Cries Unheard
by Orexisgrimm
Summary: Konoha has been Taken over by one of the council members will Naruto be able to Take back his home from this mans Tyranny or will it be forever lost, and Will he gain more than just his home?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer. I do NOT own Naruto, This story is purely Fan made.**

I scream out for help but no one can hear me now, Why was this all happening to me, since that day nothing had seemed right, Happiness was nowhere to be found. I had to wonder to myself if any of my old friends even remembered who I am. I remember a time when we would have died to protect each other, and I wonder if they would still put their lives on the line to maybe save mine, I push aside these thoughts even if they would that doesn't matter now.

~~~~~~~**Flashback**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"**Resengan**"

Naruto ran towards his opponent, This fight had been going on for hours, it was one Root ANBU after another, Danzou had managed a Coup de tat over Konoha and was now a Tyrannical leader, Naruto had come alone to try to take the village back. He had to have been crazy coming into a fight like this alone.

He thrust his hand forward the attack hit, the ANBU member flew backwards and through the wall of a nearby building, He looked to make sure the ANBU member wasn't getting up, he made a mental tally 36 down, only what seemed like hundreds to go. He was starting to feel a little bit of fatigue nagging at him, he pushed it aside telling himself he had to push himself if he was going to save Konoha. The civilians needed to be free, the Shinobi could return once he had overturned the rule of this tyrannical bastard Danzou.

Another 3 ROOT members appeared in front of him, This fight was out of hand. He made a hand seal in front of him and created 3 shadow clones. He ordered them to charge in the shadow clones took off in a blur of orange and black motion. The Root members dispatched 2 of them and realized they had lost track of the Third clone, they turned just in time to see a clone holding a Resengan about to hit them, The center man of the 3 man squad tried to dodge but it was too late as he was met firmly by the blue orb and sent backwards coughing up blood, The clone vanished in a puff of white smoke.

The Root members turned back to the Original Naruto and saw him standing with a Resenshuriken in hand. They charged hoping they could overtake him with speed. Naruto had trained long hours to use this attack right, but they only knew what the file told them which meant that he could only use it close range, This however wasn't true, after long training it had become a long range attack he could throw the Giant Wind shuriken and he did just that, if only these men didn't have the masks, he would have paid to see the shock painted on their faces when the attack landed just in front of them. Naruto scratched 3 more down on his mental tally, he reassured himself that this plan was in fact Insane.

It wouldn't be long until he was at the Hokage tower now though, He knew Danzou was watching and lifted a hand toward the window of the Hokage office and gave him the finger before disappearing in a blur and dispatching another 2 ANBU members before continuing the journey toward the Tower in the center of town. He Realized as much as he didn't want to have to by the end of this fight he was going to have to use The Kyuubi's Chakra.

~~~~~~~~~~~~*20 minutes later The Hokage Tower*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto stood in the entry room of the tower panting, He had brought his mental tally up to 75 He took one last deep breath before regaining his resolve and Running up the stairs and down the halls toward the Hokage office that Bastard Danzou was gonna pay for trying to take his home and bend it to his will.

Naruto Kicked the doors of the office open and Danzou stood behind the desk staring out the window and Slowly turned toward Naruto before speaking

"Welcome Naruto I've been expecting you."

"Yea, Now I'm gonna kick your sorry ass for what you've done."

"No I have a different plan"

"Huh?"

At that very moment with a puff of smoke and a little fire appeared an ANBU member that looked different from the ones he'd already fought. This one wasn't wearing the standard ANBU gear, his outfit consisted of dark combat clothing, Tight fit pants that allowed for quick movement, a form fitting battle shirt that hugged to his skin long sleeves and his face covered by the Standard ANBU mask, The man had two swords strapped to his back.

"You Die here, My best officer will kill you and you will fail at your quest to get Konoha back."

"We will see about that. I'll kick this guys ass then you're next Danzou."

With this Naruto formed 2 shadow clones and each of them made a resengan and charges at the man in the middle of the room. The impassive ANBU rocked his weight back and twisted out of the way of the first Naruto and ducked into a sweeping kick hitting Naruto's shins and the clone vanished a puff of smoke, in seemingly an instant the Second clone was impaled by one of the mans swords, Naruto thought to himself "This is impossible. I didn't even see him pull his sword out, How fast is this guy"

Naruto pulled a Kunai out of his hip pouch and Charged the man Head on, in a blur of motion they locked blades and fought for Dominance. Naruto was managing to force the ANBU elite back a little before ducking to avoid the mans second sword. He had barely managed to see the mans motion to pull the sword. This guy was too fast. Naruto Shot a quick thought into his mindscape "Kyuubi I know this is annoying But I need your help."

"Why is it Kit that you only ever talk to me when YOU need something you never ask if I need something You never visit just to talk, It's always help me this, Give me your strength that."

"This isn't the time dammit. Kyuubi , Do you really want to die?"

"Okay Kit on the condition Me and you NEED to talk after this is over, Now get Fighting Kit."

Naruto blinked the ANBU didn't miss the change his eyes had undergone from Cerulean Blue to a Blood lust Red. Naruto Starting forcing the man back again in a blur of kicks and punches, after forcing the man back most of the way across the room a hit Finally connected and the ANBU officer crashed through the Hokage's desk sending papers all over the room, The ANBU stood up just as impassive looking as before and put away his second sword and started a series of on handed seals with his no open left hand. After a second the whole room seemed to get Heavier.

Naruto charged in only to stop and jump backwards realizing his movements had slowed, His first though was Genjutsu He made a hand seal "KAI"

Nothing had changed, The man Laughed and spoke. "This is not Genjutsu I have manipulated the gravity in this room, I have trained under high gravity for years, while it makes you slower, and more sluggish, I can fight as if nothing has changed at all, This will be your end"

The ANBU charged at him with blinding speed. A blur of kicks piled into Naruto's chest and face. One good kick to the chin sent him backwards into the doors of the room and he crashed through them. Pain shot through his body, Within a second the man was back upon him. More hits more pain, Naruto called more from the Kyuubi, Swirling red chakra began to form around him The man lifted a hand that started to glow a blueish purple and jabbed it into Naruto's torso and yelled "Seal of the Seasons" The Chakra from Kyuubi immediately drained from Naruto's Chakra coils. This was bad He was on his own from here on in and he knew it, he was exhausted He was in pain. Another hard hit landed and Naruto Screamed in Pain. He cried out for help Knowing that no one would hear his cries.

Naruto felt a sharp pain in his temple and the world went black. He woke up inside of his mindscape. he wandered down the familiar halls of his own mind, Without thinking, he wandered until he realized he had unconsciously made his way to Kyuubi's cell. The Kyuubi paced back and forth inside of his cage, A new seal was on the bars beneath the one that had originally locked him inside this place all those years ago. He read the words on the seal "Summer. Winter. Spring. Autumn." Then he remembered the mans attack during the fight he had just endured. The seal of the seasons huh?

"Kyuubi."

"Hey Kit. Looks like we lost I Did all I could but this damn second seal cut me off."

"I know Kyuubi. Is there any way you know of to break this seal?"

"There is one but it's dangerous, and you must do it from inside this mindscape so you have to do it before you wake up. If your entire being isn't in here then You won't be able to break it."

"Well then Hurry how do we Break this seal"

"Calm down Kit. you won't wake up for a while, My Chakra is sealed so I can't Heal the injuries, So you're Healing like a normal person."

"Just great, But could you tell me how to break this seal."

"Yes, Sit down and close your eyes, The first step is kind of like meditation, You have to clear your mind and focus ONLY on the task of breaking the seal, Now this seal is meant to seal demonic Chakra, Meaning yours can still pass the other way. Though there will be resistance from the seal, It won't stop yours like it does mine. It will simply hinder yours a little."

"Okay that answers part of the question."

"After you have cleared your mind you must force your chakra into my chakra coils. Reverse from the normal flow we have from me to you. I am well practiced at adding my chakra to yours but where you haven't had to feed me yours before this will be hard to do and may take several tries, The objective you have to accomplish is exhaust all of your chakra into my system. The seal can only be broken by the Demon it is sealing but it can only be broken with Human chakra, so the basic idea is I have to break this seal but I need your chakra to do so."

"So what you are telling me is that this seal cuts off demonic chakra, so that a demon can be sealed but the only way to break it is for the sealed demon to acquire chakra from A Human entity."

"The other part is That where I'm sealed inside of you the chakra I have to use is yours No one elses will break the seal. The idea is to seal a Demon and the only way to let the demon be free is for the person that contains it to let it free, this usually involves a contract that states the demon will serve the container after it's release, Unlike the seal you have that seals us together until death the seal of seasons is only meant to be temporary, and if the container is to die the demon is released, The seal that you have with me from your father wo.."

"MY FATHER?"

"Oh...yea I forgot to mention that before didn't I....You're father was Minato Namikazi, The Yondaime Hokage and hero of Konoha. your mother was the Princess of the land of whirlpool Kushina Uzumaki, You were given your mothers family name for your own protection."

"Why didn't...Why didn't Tsunade tell me..."

"I'm sure that she intended to in time, when she felt it was the right time to tell you I Slipped and told you so now you know, But as I was trying to say. The seal your father gave you works differently if you Die I die with you. In addition, If the seal is ever released it will kill you. So there is no way out of here, I tried to find a way, I planned on tricking you even into removing it without telling you the consequences but luckily for you, I've taken a liking to you Kit. your actions speak more than words could ever tell for your character as a person and I have accepted that you are a worthy container"

"My actions?"

"Yes remember I'm inside your mindscape all the time, when you aren't here everything that happens to you outside in the real world is displayed like a movie theater occasionally I enjoy watching what you are doing, By the way you made a hell of a messy entrance through those ANBU getting to Danzou's office."

"It's not Danzou's office It's Lady Tsunade's office."

"Of course it is, But last I checked she's still a captive and now so are we and no one else is coming to save us so until you break this damn Seal it is Danzou's."

Naruto closed his eyes as he sat down and started to clear his mind, He smiled at the thought of being the Yondaime's son. He quickly pushed the thought aside clearing his mind, and focused on pushing his chakra backwards through it's coils and into the Kyuubi's mass of chakra, The pain was unbearable, He felt like his body was being torn apart form the inside out. after a moment He lost his focus and opened his eyes as the flow of Chakra returned to normal he felt the pain go away"

"You didn't tell me this was going to hurt."

"You didn't ask did you Kit? Now back to breaking the seal Ignore the Pain you're a Shinobi You can handle it Kit."

Naruto closed his eyes again and started pushing the chakra back The pain returned and he winced but pushed it off the pain was getting worse the more he pushed back towards the Kyuubi this was unbearable. No wonder they used this seal it hurt so much to reverse that the Demon would almost surely be locked away until the container died. Naruto though wasn't your normal person and pushed through the pain the pain started fading after a while but he started to feel light headed, Dizzy the world was spinning. The Kyuubi noticed the change in the way he was sitting and spoke.

"Almost there Kit I told you this is dangerous after you finish you will be dead until the seal is broken and your chakra returns to you, so if I can't break the seal then we will both die. If we do nothing though we will die by Danzou's hand. So please hang in there Kit"

Naruto was silent as he kept pushing the chakra into Kyuubi Exhaustion hit but he kept pushing then there was nothing. He fell to the floor depleted of chakra and unable to conjure more until the seal was broken there inside of his mindscape he was trapped he would die if the Kyuubi couldn't break that seal soon.

The Kyuubi immediately sat to work pushing Naruto's chakra into the seal while speaking out a series of seals that would be needed, The Kyuubi lacked hands though he had realized once the seal was in place he was no longer capable of manipulating his form, so though he had a human state he could not use it, he had long ago learned to use seals without actually making the seals he could use them simply by speaking their name and their effects would come along with it, at least that was when he was in this Demonic form. Kyuubi concentrated and pushed hard into the seal with the Chakra Naruto had channeled back into him though he didn't know if it was enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*10 minutes later*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto's eyes snapped open as his chakra flow returned. He looked up at the massive cage doors of the Kyuubi. The Demon fox was sitting near the back of his cage with a pleasant grin on his face. He had managed to break that seal Now he was working on healing Naruto's wounds. "Naruto I'm healing your body You will be awake in a few minutes, They think my Chakra is sealed still so we have the element of surprise Don't go back to fight Danzou for now we get out of Konoha and make a plan, and I will help you train, we need to be stronger before we can do this alone."

Naruto nodded and a moment later His mindscape obscured as he woke up in his physical body and looked around, there was one ANBU guard at the door of his cell, The guard wore a standard issue uniform for the ANBU members, He knew where he was though. The ANBU complex wasn't that far from the Hokage Tower and he was locked in one of the basement cells, He had been down here before escorting a prisoner to their cell, He was chained to the wall, they had Chakra seals on them so he couldn't break them...on his own anyway

"Kyuubi, Let's do this"

"You got it kit" Naruto's chakra exploded around him along with the Kyuubi's. The ANBU looked back into the cell and stood rigid as Naruto broke the chains holding him to the cell wall and grabbed onto the manacles that were still around his wrist and broken them off with the help of the Kyuubi's chakra, He had overcome seals like this before with the Kyuubi's help with both of their chakras the it was more than the seals could prohibit.

Naruto charged forward forming a resengan and blew the door to his cell of the hinges, The ANBU was knocked back into a wall and didn't get up right away, Naruto made a break for it toward the surface levels, to make his grand escape. He ran out the front doors into the sunlight and immediately darted into a dark alley near the building the started to conceal his chakra, making his way quietly and stealthily toward the east gate, the main gates were too well guarded even though that's where he had made his entrance he was far too exhausted to take that punishment again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*6 hours later a few miles outside of Konoha*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We did it Kyuubi, we made it out alive."

"Yes we did, now rest Kit, we have a long road ahead of us and a lot to talk about and a lot of training to do, and a short time to do it, I'm setting us a 3 week deadline to become strong enough for us to take Danzou out of power, I know that isn't a lot of time so rest now while you still can this is the last good sleep you will get until after we attack."

"Okay Kyuubi. Oh, and Kyuubi?"

"Yes Kit?"

"Thank you"

"Don't worry about it Kit. This is only the beginning you can thank me when this is over."

~~~~~~~~*The Next Morning - Inside Naruto's Mindscape*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kyuubi had transformed himself into his Human form, He stood taller than Naruto by a few inches, He wore form light combat pants and boots, A Tank top covered with a long black trench coat, his hair was red and down to his shoulder blades, his eyes glowed red, His face was rigid as if it was from a stone statue. He had decided to take this form to make Naruto more comfortable during their talks, Which he figured would be by soon. It was morning Naruto should be waking up soon he thought, and he knew the first thing Naruto was going to do is ask what they would be doing for the day.

Naruto Opened his eyes groggy from sleep. After a minute he sat up and grabbed his things. He moved to nearby tree and sat down and entered the familiar halls of his mindscape. He walked down the corridors toward the cell Kyuubi was locked in. When he arrived he looked in shock at the Kyuubi, this was the first time he had seen the fox demon in his human form and it was a surprise to him just how Human the Fox could look, well aside from his eyes.

"Kyuubi?"

"Yes Kit who else would be inside your mindscape, we are the only two being in here"

"What are we going to be doing first today? It's our first day of the 3 week training."

"Yes but before we start with your training I would like you to sit and talk with me, I have a question first though, You do realize if you give me permission I can mold this room to be different, I could bend it to my will instead of it being a prison I could make it into something a little more inviting, But I need your permission since it is part of your mind."

"Yes Kyuubi You can change your room however you see fit You do have to spend a lifetime with me and you are helping me out so I don't see why it would be a problem"

"Thank you kit this cell has been getting more depressing with time"

That having been said Kyuubi closed his eyes and Naruto watched as the cell became a Beautiful Living room with a fireplace, To Chairs in the center faced each other with with a coffee table between them. Kyuubi opened his eyes and motioned for Naruto to come in and take a seat in the chair across from his own.

"Naruto I know that you might have some question about your family, but before I answer those there is something that I would like to tell you."

"And that is?"

"The attack on Konoha what was it 18 years ago now?"

"well Almost I'll be 18 by the time we attack Danzou again but as of right now it's been 17 years 11 months and 24 days, I'll be 18 in just about a week"

"Okay well I didn't attack Konoha of my own will"

"What do you mean Kyuubi?"

"I was summoned from the Demon Realm into yours, and as with any summoning, I must obey whoever summoned me. I was Ordered to attack the City of Konoha. It was their will not mine that caused us to be forced into each others lives, If I hadn't been summoned than you would not have been cursed with being my container, I could have continues living my life inside of the Demon realm."

"Who would do that who summoned you to our realm?"

"Their name was Uchiha Madara. He was beaten by the first Hokage in the Valley of the end where you fought with Sasuke. They fought for three days to decide who would be named the first Hokage, The Winner was as you know Tsunade's grandfather. The Uchiha Summoned me to take revenge on Konoha for not recognizing him as their First Hokage."

"Uchiha..."

"Yes he was The Head of the Uchiha clan at the time. And was the strongest of the Uchiha."

"Okay."

"Now you may ask whatever questions you see fit either about the attack on Konoha or your parents."

"What happened to my mother, no one ever told me who she was or where she is."

"Well Who she is I already told you, Kushina Uzumaki Princess of Whirlpool country. As for where she is, I'm sorry Kit she died giving birth to you."

Naruto's eyes went to the floor saddened by this news he was hoping that she may be alive somewhere in the world and that he had living family somewhere.

"Your father of course died sealing me inside of you and I'm sorry for that Kit, I am the reason that you are an orphan."

"Well you didn't have a choice Kyuubi."

"I know it doesn't make it any easier to know it's because of me."

"No It's because of Uchiha Madara. Now Kyuubi Where are we going to be training?"

"I'm glad you ask, You're gonna have to be insane to agree to this, But I propose that we train In the Demon realm, The fact that you have my demonic Chakra gives you access I'll just have to teach you how to Enter My realm."

"Whoa WHAT?!?!?!?! You want me to train in the demon world?"

"Yes kit, Time passes differently there, This 3 weeks just because a little over a year to train if we are in my Realm. When you come back your physical body will only be 3 weeks older but your skills will be one year more advanced. There are dangers of course, Though I did mention you would have to be insane to agree."

"Well it is to save Konoha I'll do it."

"Okay" Kyuubi took out a scroll and sat it on the table and drew a seal onto it. "You will need to make this seal on a scroll and use your blood and our chakra when you add them you will be moved into my realm."

"Thank you for helping me Kyuubi."

"Kit don't thank me till this is over alright? Now go and make the scroll and get us into my realm. We can talk more once we are there."

"Okay Kyuubi I'll talk to you after we get there"

Naruto opened his eyes and pulled out a pen and a scroll and made a seal that looked like the one Kyuubi had drawn. He sat the scroll on the ground and bit his thumb then wiped the blood across the scroll and sat his pal flat on top of it and channeled his chakra into the scroll and for a second he felt dizzy. When he opened his eyes again he was in a field that was totally different from the ones near Konoha, the plant life was greener the little wildlife he could see was bigger and there was enough chakra in the air to make him feel like he was suffocating.

"Kyuubi we are here."

A moment later the Human image of Kyuubi was standing next to him. Naruto stared in shock, How was Kyuubi outside of his body?

"Oh did I forget to mention While we are in my realm I can manifest outside of the seal? However if you are to leave I will be pulled back inside of your minds prison, and If you are to will be back in I also will be forced to go back into the prison but unless you object to it I can manifest myself physically here."

"Wow, you should have told me that before."

"Well it makes training you easier to we won't have to communicate by our mind link we can just speak to each other."

Kyuubi lifted his and pointed to the west. "About 4 miles that way is my home village here I was the ruler of the village until I was summoned by Madara."

"You were their leader?"

"Yes Kit I am the ruler here in the demon world. Well at least. I was."

"Should we go that way?"

"Yes that is our first stop thought I really advise you let me talk when they ask how the hell I am back. They might just try to kill you otherwise"

"Okay let's go"

The two started their short journey to the village the Kyuubi spoke of. The village was built much like Konoha and similar in size, The gates were guarded by several soldiers that looked much like Kyuubi though their features didn't look as strong as his.

When they two of them approached the gate two of the guards readied their weapons and blocked the gate with them before speaking "Who are you and what is your business here"

After a moment Kyuubi grinned and spoke "I'm insulted after only 3 centuries you've forgotten who I am already?"

The guard on his left looked at him carefully taking in his features trying to figure out who this man was. The guard on his right looked for a second before his eyes went wide "HOLY SHIT IT'S KYUUBI NO KITSUNE"

The first guards eyes widened in sudden recognition and he retracted his weapon quickly. "I'm so sorry Kyuubi, but in my defense it has been 312 years since I last saw you."

"It's okay I was in their world for a while, and In about a year I have to go back." Kyuubi was motioning toward Naruto.

"Why do you have to leave again You just got home."

"Well I'm sure I'll return more often now But I am bound to this kid, He is the one who has kept me alive the last 300 years, and It didn't feel like that long, Or have you forgotten the time difference out there it's been 18 years."

"Well It's good to have you back, You should hurry to the Tower Kyuubi, Tell Karina that you have returned."

"Karina is there?"

"Yes she took over after you left that night."

"Okay I'll do that right away then I'll be training this young one."

Kyuubi motioned for Naruto to follow him as he started walking toward the center of town. The villagers stared in disbelief and some even in fear as Kyuubi passed by, From what Naruto could gather he had been a good ruler but his strength scared even his own people.

Kyuubi walked through the front doors of The capitol Tower in the center of town, the building looked much like the Hokage tower in Konoha With the exception that is was a light blue color Kyuubi told him that the blue was easier on the eyes than the red of The Hokage tower, then continued up the stairs and down the hall to the main office. Kyuubi stood outside for a moment in deep thought before he walked over to the door He put his hand up to knock on it them put his hand down and grinned he had an idea.

He walked over to Naruto then whispered in his ear "I want you to knock on the door when she tells you to some in address her as Karina-sama and tell her you know the whereabouts of Kyuubi No Kitsune, her long lost mate, When she asks where I'll make my entrance okay?"

Naruto grinned as he realized the Kyuubi liked theatrics. Naruto walked to the door and knocked on the door firmly, after a moment he heard a feminine voice from the other side "Come in" He opened the door and walked in slowly with his head down. The voice spoke again though he had not looked up to see her "Who are you and what is your business with me." Naruto Lifted his head and grinned as he spoke "Hello Karina-Sama My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and My business is I know the Location Of Kyuubi No Kitsune, you're mate."

Karina's face turned to one of pure shock. once she processed what she was just told she growled "Where the hell is he and how would you know where he is, He has been gone over 300 years and you expect me to believe someone like you knows where he is?"

A second later there was a laugh from the door and Karina looked away from Naruto to see who was at the door. He eyes got bigger and she screamed "KYUUBI" The Man in the door just smiled and walked into the room "Did you miss me Karina?"

"Did I miss you? Are you kidding of course I missed you dammit, what the hell happened"

Kyuubi explained the events of that night he was summoned and how he was sealed inside of a human boy the son of Minato. Her eyes widened at the name Naruto made note to ask the Kyuubi how they knew of his father here. After a long Kyuubi explained that he was back for one year to train Naruto then they were going back to Naruto's World her eyes saddened but she nodded her acceptance knowing that she didn't have a choice but to let him go, But he did tell her he would be back more often from now on. They walked out of her office and Naruto followed Kyuubi to an open field near the edge of the village and told Naruto "Welcome to the training grounds, Let's see what you can do Young one."

The two of them Dropped into their different fighting stances time slowed down it seemed a gentle breeze made it's way across Naruto's face and Kyuubi Finally yelled

"Begin."

**A/N there you have chapter one of this story let me know what you think. please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

Okay I just posted the last chapter not that long ago but I wanted to keep writing (I've got a blister on my index finger so I guitar hurts right now and I need something to pass the time.) So in short this story might get updated Frequently over the next few days.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto, As nice as it would be It's fact that I don't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Demon Realm Kitsune Village Training grounds.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Begin"

Naruto quickly created several shadow clones and charged at Kyuubi. The clones split off two on the right and two on the left, and one coming straight from the front. They all pulled a kunai each. Running straight in at Kyuubi who readied himself the one charging from his front reached him first, Kyuubi rocked back onto his left foot and twisted hard out of the way bringing his arm into the clones back as it passed. Looking he quickly turned right and charged at the clones that were coming at him.

Kyuubi pulled his own kunai and with stunning gracefulness slashed through both of the clones. He turned back toward the last two Narutos' that were coming for him, Taking a defensive stance he waited patiently, He threw two kunai at each of them, They both jumped up to dodge them Kyuubi took out another kunai and slashed one of the airborne Narutos' that poofed away into a cloud of smoke. Quickly he threw the kunai at the other airborne clone. The kunai hit and the clone disappeared again. Kyuubi looked around for the original Naruto, He didn't see him for a moment, then he heard the earth below him crack. He looked down too late and met a bone shattering uppercut from Naruto.

Within a second Naruto was on top of him a good punch into his chest, Kyuubi groaned the hit had knocked the air out of him, he punched the Naruto off of himself. When he did he thought he had landed a solid hit on Naruto but then there was a puff of smoke and he disappeared again. Before Kyuubi could manage to get up he noticed a growing shadow above him and barely rolled out from underneath the Axe kick Naruto had set up. Kyuubi threw himself to his feet and took a defensive stance again, It had been a long time since he had fought and he was a bit rusty and Naruto was giving him a good work out. Naruto charged straight at him With a thunderous clash of steel on steel they locked kunai. Kyuubi rocked his weight just enough to throw Naruto off balance, he pulled himself down a bit and charged shoulder first into Naruto while his guard was down. The Naruto again turned into a puff of smoke when Kyuubi looked behind him he was met with the sight of an arm reaching toward him holding a grapefruit sized blue sphere of swirling chakra. "This is bad" He thought to himself just before the Resengan tore into him. Kyuubi was sent flying across the training ground and crashed through the trunk of an old oak tree. Kyuubi spoke up "Good spar Naruto I think we can safely say you win for today and for the record, That really friggen hurts"

"okay what should we do for training next Kyuubi?"

Kyuubi pointed to the water several hundred feet behind the training grounds. "You see that waterfall over there?"

"Yeah"

"We are going to work on chakra control, You will have to meditate and mold chakra, while standing under the waterfall, I will be joining you for this exercise I could use some light meditation."

"Okay Kyuubi-Sensei"

Kyuubi thought to himself "Did he really just call me sensei?"

Kyuubi started walking toward the waterfall to Join Naruto for the exercise that he had described "By the way that water is cold Naruto. This won't be easy."

Kyuubi and Naruto stepped out onto the frigid water and made their way across to the waterfall. Kyuubi was the first to get himself ready he took off his coat and his shirt and laid them on a rock near the waterfall before motioning for Naruto to do the same, Once they were both ready Kyuubi stepped into the wall of water created by the waterfall. Naruto followed, Kyuubi Formed a simple hand seal and closed his eyes to start his meditation. He stood like a stone statue Unphased by the freezing cold water hitting him, However for Naruto it was all he could do to hold his concentration on the task at hand, the water was freezing cold it stung when it hit the skin like being pelted with rocks. A Memory Naruto was all to familiar with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Six Months Later*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(A/N: yeah I know it's a big gap I was going to skip the entire year in demon world and just get to the results but decided it was better to do a "so far" result)

Kyuubi and Naruto panted heavily they had been fighting for over an hour straight the terrain was torn up the Earth was burned, Trees were destroyed, rocks were cracked and split, There was blood on the ground around them, Their clothing was torn Blood ran down their faces and arms. The battle had been brutal, but their stamina was unyielding. The two took off in a blur of motion, Kicks and punches, Sparks from locking their kunai blades with one another, Naruto parried another of Kyuubi's strikes. Then quickly back flipped a good distance away from his sensei. Naruto began making hand seals, His agility had increased from all the heavy training with Kyuubi and his hands appeared no more than a blur of motion Even the watchful eyes of Kyuubi couldn't match that speed. After what looked like hundreds of seals Naruto Cried out "Wind Release: Sharpened ascent" A massive burst of wind blew Kyuubi into the air. Naruto Made more seals while the wind raged blowing Kyuubi higher still, After several more seals Naruto called out again "Wind Release: Orange Descent" Naruto was above Kyuubi in a flash and grabbed him tight from behind and shifted his weight so that he was facing head long toward the ground in a suicide dive. Kyuubi couldn't move Naruto's grip was too tight. The wind roared and accelerated them towards the ground until there surrounds were nothing more than a blur to them When the got close to the ground Naruto Let go of Kyuubi and flipped himself upright. Orange blurs came from all sides as Naruto's clones Kicked and punched the super accelerated Kyuubi until he was moving back upward. Then with one final Cry Naruto landed an axe kick to Kyuubi's head knocking him unconscious.

Naruto had spent months creating that technique. Not only did it utilize the chakra control from Kyuubi's meditation training, but it also used his elemental chakra and his physical strength which had also improved drastically over the 6 months he had been in the Demon realm. After a few minutes of resting Kyuubi finally woke up, Naruto had pulled him near the waters edge and propped him against a tree to wait until he woke up.

"Come on Kyuubi, we have meditation to do still"

"Okay Kit. Just give me a second I'm a little bit sore"

Naruto Laughed at this, he had beaten the Kyuubi no Kitsune again, The Demon that was so feared fell to Naruto's strength. After waiting two or three minutes Kyuubi and Naruto walked across the water and readied themselves, They both stepped under the raging water at the same time in complete sync they both turned to face out over the water towards the training grounds. The both stood completely still eyes closed making one hand seal. Both of them rigid like a statue their concentration was flawless. Their control was beyond belief they stood under the crashing water for nearly another hours before they both in perfect synchronization opened their eyes and walked back out and picked up their clothes that were sitting on the rocks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*One Year Later*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kit you ready to return to Konoha? It's been 3 weeks in your world."

"Yeah I'm ready I'll definitely Kick Danzou's ass this time, Believe it."

"That's good to hear Kit. As long as you're sure you're ready."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's do this already" Naruto's impatience was starting to show, This would be his time to shine, He would be the hero that reclaimed Konoha, and Returned power to the rightful leader Tsunade.

Naruto made another seal on a scroll He was going to miss Having Kyuubi be able to physically Manifest himself. He smeared some blood on the scroll and slammed it into the ground with him palm flat in the center of the seal and pumped his chakra into it. The world blurred and Spun. Naruto's Head reeled for a moment when his eyes finally refocused he was standing in the exact spot he had been when he had left on his training journey with Kyuubi. When morning came he'd make his move to reclaim Konoha, No matter the cost this was something that he had to do.

Naruto Looked at a map of Konoha, He really wished he had Shikamaru with him right now, He would would surely be able to make a fool proof plan, Naruto had never been good at making a strategic plan, he was more for the straightforward in your face frontal assault. This though he couldn't risk Failure, his lively hood and that of all his friends rested in the balance.

Naruto Approached the west gate, He had completely circled around Konoha to avoid coming back in the way he had left. He watched the guards until they weren't paying much attention one was asleep the other was off in the bushes relieving his bladder. Their shift would end soon and the morning patrol would take over. Naruto used their over careless behavior to his advantage and slipped through the gate silently and moved his way into a dark alley. He made his way through side streets and back alleys until he was near the Hokage's Tower. This was it, He was sure Danzou had his elite guards with him. He'd make those bastards pay for the pain he went through last time, and he's make Danzou pay the ultimate price. Death.

Naruto walked into the lobby of the great tower to his surprise there were no guards on the lower levels, or the higher ones for that matter. He made his way to the doors to the Hokage's office where he knew Danzou would be. "Kyuubi, Let's do this are you ready?"

"Yes Kit I'm ready if you need my chakra just say help over our mental link that one word will be enough and I'll give you all that you need."

"Thanks Kyuubi"

"What did I tell you about that. Don't thank me until it's over."

Naruto kicked the door open, Danzou was seated comfortably at Tsunade's desk, He had to have had that fixed. Naruto Recalled a Certain ANBU prick flying through it last time he was here.

"Welcome Naruto I knew you would be back. Can't stay away can you. You obviously didn't learn your lesson last time. This time my Elite Officer won't let you live. Last time we showed you mercy and you spat in my face."

"I think you are mistaken this time He will die, then I'll kill you."

"You've trained what three weeks and you think what little you can gain in that time will be enough to beat us? You must be insane" Danzou snapped his fingers and his elite officer was there in an instant, Naruto just grinned as he let himself fall into his Taijutsu stance.

Naruto made the first move charging forward His speed was much faster than the last time, Danzou's jaw slacked some as he witnessed the Ninja that had just 3 weeks ago been beaten unconscious in this very room move so fast that his eyes couldn't focus on him. He heard the sounds of impacts every time The streak that was Naruto passed his elite ANBU guard. The ANBU focused hard not to let The pain distract him as he made hand seals with one hand and once again the room suddenly felt heavier, The gravity had increased. This time thought Naruto was ready "You think that will really work twice, I've trained under gravity seals for this occasion now after our last fight"

"You've trained for what? Three weeks, I bet half of it you weren't even training and you think you can hold up to years of training under this Jutsu?"

"Well you're part right. I trained for three weeks, But it WILL hold up to you."

Naruto was gone in a flash The ANBU was shocked this brat could move so fast with his gravity Jutsu in place. Naruto was slower now, he was moving about the same speed he had moved 3 weeks ago before the ANBU had turned up the gravity.

"Kyuubi Now."

Naruto's eyes turned Blood Lust red and his whisker marks became deeper slightly more jagged and more defined and Red chakra burst out from his body and swirled around him. The ANBU remembered this from last time they had fought and prepared to do his seal of the seasons.

"Not this time." The voice came from behind the ANBU who turned only to be caught with the sight of Naruto's Shadow clone holding the Resengan out toward him. The Blue orb his throwing the man backwards toward the original Naruto when he was in range Naruto wound back and delivered a hard Roundhouse kick to the mans back. There was a groan of pain that escaped the masked mans lips as the air rushed from his lungs.

Naruto flipped into the air and brought a foot down hard in the middle of the mans chest, His eyes rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness. Naruto pulled out a kunai and slashed the mans throat then walked towards Danzou "You thought that he could beat me twice? Who did you think you were kidding Danzou, This is over this is where you die"

Naruto grinned as he held out his hand palm facing up and a resengan appeared Though the color wasn't a solid blue the red Chakra of Kyuubi mixed with his swirling creating a red and blue resengan. Danzou's eyes widened as he Pleaded for Naruto to reconsider his "Rash decision"

Naruto Laughed before speaking "It's too late to negotiate this Danzou. It's too late to 'reconsider' This I told you that after I killed him you were next now I'm going to keep to that." Naruto drove his hand into the heavily bandaged man. The scream echoed over the streets of Konoha. Danzou laid bloodied on the floor of the Hokage's office. His breathing was labored. If he had not been a retired ANBU Shinobi that would have easily killed him. "Where are Tsunade and Jiraiya being held?"

"Why the hell would I tell you that"

"Because you are already dead you won't last five minutes you know that as well as I do, and even if you don't tell me you know I will find them"

"Fine. They are in the lowest level of the ANBU complex. Below the one you were on, there's a secret entrance in the office at the back of the corridor full of cells. Move the filing cabinet to the side, it blocks a door. It leads to the stairs down."

"That's all I needed was that so hard?"

"Shut up brat" Danzou's voice trailed off at the end of his statement and he found his way into the arms of death.

Naruto made his way to the ANBU building, He had to save Tsunade. Several squads of Root ANBU attacked him along the way but since he had trained in the Demon realm these ANBU seemed like they were still genins to him. He counted as he dispatched them. 22...Naruto bolted up a wall and pushed off propelling himself at another ANBU who was caught completely off guard. 23.

Naruto found the office he managed to dispatch the Guard that was stationed there rather quickly "37" he said out load to himself before shifting the filing cabinets and making his way down the stairs. As soon as he walked into the hall full of cells he spotted Jiraiya and Tsunade they had been put in cells directly next to each others.

"Hey granny Tsunade, Ero-Sennin"

"Na-Naruto?" They both stammered in unison. "How the hell did you get down here?"

"Well The short version of the story is, I killed some ANBU, I got my ass kicked. Retreated, Trained. Came back, Killed some more ANBU, Killed Danzou and Now I'm here to let you guys out."

"You killed Danzou but how did you manage to make it through his ANBU units."

"Well the first time was a little harder. This time I snuck into the Hokage Tower. I used my training to kill his personal Bodyguard and then I killed him."

"You'll have to put it into the reports later how many ANBU are left? Do you know?"

"Well I don't know how many are left but I do know how many are dead, The first attack I took out 75 of them this time I took out 37 Not counting the elite bodyguard or Danzou himself." Naruto thought deeply for a second trying to do the math. "So that means I think 112?"

"Yes Naruto and good work there aren't any other Shinobi that I know that could kill that many ANBU with the exception of us Sannins."

"Let's get going Granny, we need to get you back to your office, we have to get the civilians out of their prison. We have to let out Shinobi know it's safe to return and Danzou's Tyrannical reign is over."

"Yes, Yes Naruto, Let's go we have a lot left to do and we have to clean this up, and when you are done, and all of the other Shinobi have returned. I need to speak with you privately in my office."

"Okay Granny Tsunade."

"I want you to send out messenger hawks telling of Danzou's defeat and then I want you to personally go and track down as many of the Shinobi as you can and tell them yourself so there is no doubt in their mind that it is safe and Konoha is back under our control."

"Yes Tsunade" and with that Naruto was gone in a flash

Tsunade stood in shock trying to process what had just happened "How did he get that strong in just three weeks?"

Jiraiya stood next to her and looked up at to the sky "I don't know we will have to ask him about that."

Naruto smiled as he walked casually out of the front gates of Konoha without so much as a sound that would indicate someone was nearby to attack him. He Stretched quickly then took off into the forest looking for the Shinobi that had left the city when the battle started going badly.

A/N: Thank you for reading Please Review if you would, And thank you to Rose Tiger for pointing out some mistakes in the first chapter that I think I have managed to correct all of them and this chapter I hope I avoided them altogether, But if you see any problems let me know, To guys that being said, good? Bad?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you all for subscribing when I started this story I didn't expect anyone to like it at all, though I only have a few subscribers at the moment I'm hoping that will change soon as I keep writing, I didn't have an entire plan for this story and I still don't have it planned entirely. Thank you to the two people that have given reviews as of me writing this header. I appreciate the feed back.

Rose Tiger: I'm guessing from the lack of constructive criticism that my punctuation and sentence structure improved, thank you for the first review pointing out my mistakes.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto....what a world it would be if I did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Forest Bordering Konoha*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto moved quickly looking for the Shinobi of Konoha that had left during the battle with Danzou's men. The battle had been fierce but they were still forced to retreat. They most likely had been training to gain strength enough to take back the city. Shikamaru was undoubtedly Playing Shougi while making marks on an overhead map of Konoha. From what Naruto could gather the Shinobi were still broken into teams hiding separately among the forest. This way they could keep their locations disclosed more easily. They had to have a meeting place though where they would gather one member from each team to tell the others of their plans and their progress. Naruto was looking to find their meeting location so that he could tell several teams with one speech that Konoha had been recovered. He planned on leaving how it was recovered for the speech Tsunade was planning. Even if he was to tell them now he knew that they wouldn't believe he had succeeded in taking back the village single handed.

Naruto noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eye and rotated himself in the air to look at the movement he had seen, it was a person but he only caught a glance but judging from the clothing he may well have just found the jackpot of all the Shinobi he could have ran into first, if anyone knew where to find everyone and was aware of what each team was doing it was Shikamaru. Naruto planted a foot on the nearest tree he could reach and rocketed himself in the direction of the shadow he had seen. He was moving at an unheard of rate of speed, before long he was back in sight of the silhouette that was moving through the trees with fairly good grace making sure not to leave behind traces of his movement. Naruto was sure he had found Shikamaru now, no one else was this good at evading people. Most didn't put that much thought into a retreat, Shikamaru however was better known for his ability to think quickly and cover his movements in any situation. Naruto decided to yell out.

"Shikamaru is that you?" The silhouette stopped running and turned.

"Naruto is that you? You disappeared after the attack, We all feared that you had died."

"You know I don't die that easily, I have news though, Where is your team? This will be easier if I tell you all at once."

"Follow me" Shikamaru took off in the same direction they had been running.

After many twists and turns through the forest in several directions, the two Shinobi finally landed in a small clearing, Shikamaru place to fingers to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle with it, Ino and Chouji both walked into the clearing to greet him, they both stopped and stared at Naruto in shock before Ino finally regained some of her composure and spoke "Naruto? We thought you were dead"

"Jeez what is with all of you, You know that I don't die that easily"

"The village gets attacked and taken over and you're missing for weeks on end what were we supposed to think?" Ino retorted

Naruto thought to himself "_Is it just me or does she sound more and more like Sakura as time passes?"_

"So I have a message for all of you, but I need to deliver it to everyone. Do you know where I can find the other teams of Shinobi that retreated?"

"Yea but it's too dangerous to gather Danzou's men are likely to see us if we gather in the day"

"I don't think you have to worry about that, The message I have to deliver is that Konoha is back under Tsunade's power, and the civilians have been freed."

"WHAT but how???"

"Tsunade will be giving a speech on what happened when everyone has returned so hurry tell everyone to meet me in this clearing, I'll break them the news"

"Okay." Shikamaru turned to his teams "You have your orders now let's go"

"Hai"

without another word all 3 of them shot off in separate directions. Naruto took this time while he waited for them to return to open a mental link with Kyuubi "Kyuubi, now that this is over I can say this without you bitching, Thank you"

"Kit, it was important to you, and something that you believe in so strongly as protecting the village it was only right to help you....You know, I hated you after being sealed away, I lost my freedom because of Madara Uchiha. Trapped inside of an infant. With no chance of getting out. I was spiteful, But you know after all these years I've taken a liking to you Kit, I really have"

"You know I think this might be the second time you have explained that you hated me and changed your mind."

"Yea Kit I know."

Naruto broke off the mental link he would talk to Kyuubi more later, he had a lot of questions for that fox. He had gotten a lot of answers while he was in the demon realm about a lot of things, everything from women, to life itself, the Kyuubi was several Thousand years old and very wise as it turned out. Naruto remembered thinking of Kyuubi as a beast that knew nothing but blood lust and cared little for the world, He was realizing now over the last 3 weeks, well depending on you dimension the last year. The time that he had spent training with Kyuubi had made them become a lot closer, Naruto considered Kyuubi to be his teacher, and his friend. His mind was wandering, he felt bad for the Kyuubi being trapped inside of him with no freedom in this world. After seeing how happy he had been in the demon realm able to walk freely in his own physical body it was heart wrenching for Naruto to think that it was his fault that the Kyuubi couldn't do the same here. Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by Shikamaru returning with Kakashi behind him.

"Kakashi-Sensei"

"Hello Naruto" Kakashi was as impassive as ever "I heard you have something to tell us?"

"Yes and I'm going to wait until they get back with everyone"

"Oh come on now you won't even tell your old Sensei what to expect?" Kakashi's exposed eye crinkles some telling Naruto that he was smiling under that mask of his.

"Kakashi if you want to know so bad you're just gonna have to wait until everyone has made it back that's final" Naruto told his former Sensei

Kakashi pulled out a familiar book it had a green cover, Naruto recognized it as the issue that he had given to Kakashi himself when he had returned from his training mission with Jiraiya. "I suspect since we are gathering during the day that this is very important risking being spotted like this" Kakashi sounded serious.

"Yes It's very important definitely worth meeting during daylight for." Naruto had a small grin, Kakashi returned his attention to his book and off of the conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Two hours later in the same clearing*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is everyone accounted for?" Naruto asked leaning over to talk quietly with Shikamaru

Shikamaru turned his head toward Naruto and responded "Yeah, This is everybody"

"Okay thanks for gathering them for me."

"Don't worry it's troublesome but I think this is worth it" Shikamaru said lazily.

Naruto turned toward the huge mass of people that were talking among themselves in hushed tones. They were asking each other why they were risking being discovered to hear an announcement from this "Kid" Naruto scanned the crowd. It looked as if all of the rookie 9 had made it out alive. This helped settle his nerves his friends were all alright by the looks of things.

"Okay everyone listen up" Naruto yelled to the crowd They all went silent for a moment before someone yelled back "Who do you think you are, why are we risking being gathered here, This is dangerous you know"

"Just listen and you might find out why we are here" Naruto retorted at this the man in the crowd shut up though he still looked angry

"Now I have had you all brought here to tell you it is safe to return to your homes, Konoha is not longer under Danzou's control. Tsunade has reclaimed her position as the Hokage."

"Why should we believe you" Another man yelled

From somewhere in the crowd another voice yelled "Yeah you're probably working for Danzou to lure us out by telling us that it's safe"

Angry cries started coming from carious places in the crowd while some people stood silently, after a moment Shikamaru stepped up next to Naruto and sighed heavily under his breath he mumbled "Troublesome" Before he called out to the crowd "Listen, I know it is hard to believe, But Naruto wouldn't abandon us to work for Danzou, He is my friend I trust him and believe what he has to say so I'm going back with him, with or without you I certainly hope that you will all make the wise choice and join us"

More angry yells screaming that they were traitors trying to trick them into returning to be slaughtered. Kakashi had dropped his book upon hearing that Konoha was no longer under Danzou's Power. He walked over to Naruto and joined the speech himself as well "Listen I know that it is hard to believe. However I've known Naruto for a long time, I've known him ever since he was just out of the academy and I am telling you that if Naruto says it's safe then I believe It's safe I'll be returning with them." Kakashi took a few steps back after he finished speaking and picked up his book to continue reading.

The crows still seemed unsure but it looked like most of the angry yells had calmed there was a lot of noise, Slowly each of the rookie 9 took a spot next to Naruto saying they trusted him and were going home with him, then walking to stand behind him facing the crowd, after their heart felt speeches the crowd slowly started to walk over themselves and take their places behind Naruto. After a few minutes Naruto was looking at an open field Everyone had gathered behind him to go back to Konoha. After another minute he finally Spoke just to yell "Now we are all going back home, Believe it."

The crowd broke into a loud roaring cheer then they all started back toward the gates of Konoha.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Hokage's office*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tsunade was wondering how Naruto was getting along trying to gather the Shinobi to bring them home. She was afraid that they wouldn't believe him and either return to hiding or even worse brand him a traitor and kill him. The thoughts scared her but she believed in Naruto, He never gave up, and assured herself that he would be alright, Jiraiya say on the bench looking out the window as he did then he was in Konoha.

"It's hard to believe the kid overthrew Danzou and killed most of those ANBU by himself isn't it." he said thoughtfully breaking the silence.

Tsunade looked up and thought for a second, she knew that he had defied all odds in managing what he had. Taking out that many ANBU members and Danzou himself. And only just a month if that since the village had been taken, She had heard rumors the day after her capture that an orange and black clad ninja had attacked Danzou's men. She knew then it was Naruto, she had heard rumors he had escaped their captivity, Then three weeks later he came back and demolished Almost all of Danzou's military power? She still wanted to know how he had gotten so strong in a matter of only weeks, The only explanation she could think of she dismissed as an impossibility only one other person had pulled the training that drifted through her mind.

"Yeah it is, Speaking of we should go and wait for him, he should be coming back with at least a few Shinobi any time now, I wonder how many he found so far."

"Let's go to the roof, we will be able to see them coming, and after he manages to get most of them back you can give your speech right away."

"It may be a while before he gets a good crowd back"

"This is true, But it can't hurt to wait, and It would be nice to enjoy the sunlight after being locked in that abysmal cell for the last 3 weeks or so."

"You're right, let's go upstairs and wait."

The two Legendary Sannin made there way to the roof. After taking a seat on at the edge of the roof facing the main gate they talked waiting for Naruto's return

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Less than an hour later*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"here they come" Jiraiya stated pointing out toward the gate, At first they only saw a few Shinobi but a few seconds after the initial group made it to the gate they saw a massive crowd of Shinobi approaching the gate.

"are you telling me that brat managed to get this many to follow him in one trip?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.

"It would appear that way, He mus have asked his friends to help him out, Looks like you will get to make your speech sooner than you had thought Tsunade."

She could hear Naruto yelling to them in the distance "Come on everyone Tsunade asked me to gather you all so she can make a speech"

She just smiled watching the blond knucklehead make his way back with most of the villages Shinobi following him toward the Hokage Tower.

Minutes passed as the last of the Shinobi gathered in the town center waiting for her to make her speech. Naruto had told her he wasn't going to tell them that he was the one that reclaimed Konoha and that he would leave that for her speech to clear up. She scanned the crowd recognizing many of the faces and sighed in relief knowing that most of them had remained safe during these last few weeks and stayed alive.

"Everyone I need your attention"

The crowd hushed immediately waiting to hear what Tsunade had to say.

"I know this is a bit of a shock that our home has been saved from Danzou and only a matter of weeks after his takeover, I know that he was an arrogant prick, but I didn't expect him to act against Konoha." She scanned the crowd soaking in the many faces

"I would expect that most of you are wondering how it is possible that only 3 weeks later with minimal leverage that we have reclaimed the village, and I ask that you all prepare yourself for a shock, because the reason that I am in front of you now to give this speech, is standing among all of you."

There were gasps from the crowd and a soft buzz of them whispering among themselves trying to figure out what Tsunade was talking about

"After the attack and everyone retreated. One Shinobi pulled the guts to return even though I had given a direct order to retreat and regroup. That one Shinobi was captured in his fight to regain the village. rumors of him attacking and escaping captivity shortly after reached my cell when I overheard two of the guards talking about."

The crowd was dead silent waiting for her to continue as she searched the sea of faces again, she did a double take when her eyes passed over Naruto. He really was becoming more like a mirror image of his father. For a second she had almost thought she had seen Minato himself in the crowd before she looked again to see it was Naruto, she pushed the thought aside and continued.

"That Shinobi came back last night, His actions serve as a reminder to me that sometimes having the guts to face an impossible situation head on is necessary in this world, He faced impossible odds fighting through great numbers of ANBU members, he even managed to take down Danzou's personal Body guard who was one of the most elite of the ANBU Root squad."

Once again the crowd was left in shock. After waiting a short time for this to soak in she continued

"After defeating the personal guard of Danzou he also killed the would be Tyrant then made his way through the ANBU complex to the cells where me and Jiraiya were being held. I stand before you now not only to tell you that one of our own took on this task alone single handed, but I stand here to tell you who saved us from Danzou."

She paused allowing the anticipation to grow among the crowd as they tried to figure out who it was that could have possibly accomplished the feat. Many times she heard whispers of Kakashi's name and several other high ranking Shinobi, she smiled to herself knowing they were not going to expect who their savior really was.

"So without any further delay" she scanned the crowd with her eyes and say the massive grin on Naruto's face and gave an inward chuckle. "Your savior is one that most of you might not expect, the Shinobi that you should be thanking is Uzumaki Naruto."

Gasps filled the air most of them out of complete shock, Tsunade broke a full out smile seeing the mouths of many of the Shinobi hanging slack as it hit them what they were hearing. The only member of the rookie 9 that had not yet become even a Chunnin. The thought of being outdone by a Gennin shocked most of the Shinobi there.

"That is all, However before you get to speak with him, Naruto, I need to speak with you in my office now immediately."

A cry from the crowd from the hyper active knucklehead ninja made it's way to her "I'll be right there Granny Tsunade"

She pinched the bridge of her noise part way out frustration she had told him over a hundred times not to call her that. She watched as Naruto made his way through the shocked crowd and through the front door of the Hokage tower. As soon as he passed through the doors she left the murmuring crowd and headed down toward her office she had some serious questions for that brat.

**TO BE CONTINUED.**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: There you have it chapter 3....I'll continue shortly, I thank everyone again who has opted to subscribe to my story here. Please let me know what you think. Reviews are greatly appreciated. I hope to have chapter 4 done soon I so far am averaging around 3K words per chapter, I feel that the chapters should be longer and They may become longer in the future but I can only write so long before my mind strays from the story...to say my guitar, and I like updating my story frequently.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: When I started this story I didn't expect it to really go that far, I didn't expect people to like it, However I'm being proven wrong, Just like I only intended this chapter to be about 3K words...and it seems to be getting a lot longer.

DISCLAMER: I don't Own Naruto. I only wish did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Hokage's office*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Naruto I want to know everything that has happened over the last 3 weeks." Tsunade wore a very serious expression.

Naruto grinned before answering "It would take days to give you all the details of those 'three weeks' granny Tsunade."

"what do you mean" Tsunade inquired.

Naruto's smile got even wider as he gave his answer "well mastered chakra control, I managed to increase my stamina a LOT, I got my Taijutsu to level That might even rival fuzzy brows. I still suck at genjutsu but I also mastered controlling and taming the Kyuubi's chakra"

Tsunade's eyes widened "that's impossible" she stated in a shocked disbelieving tone.

"It's impossible here but Where I was An entire year passed."

"You don't mean...."

"I was training in the Demon realm with the Kyuubi." Naruto stated proudly.

Tsunade sat in shock only on other person had crossed that dimensional barrier before that she knew of.

She thought to herself "_He Is DEFINETLY Minato's son."_

"Naruto There's only one other person that I know that has been to the demon realm."

"Yea I know, My father, Minato Namikaze." Naruto looked dead into Tsunade's eyes, they were filled with shock, How did he Know Minato was his father, she was sure she hadn't told him.

"Yes, but how did you find out who your father was?"

"Well Kyuubi slipped and mentioned he was sealed by my father, and I knew that he was sealed by the Yondaime Hokage, Kyuubi verified my father was in fact the Yondaime, and that his name was Minato Namikaze." Naruto was surprisingly calm about the whole situation, However Tsunade and Jiraiya were both shocked.

"Did the Kyuubi tell you anything else?"

"He told me that he did not attack Konoha of his own will but was summoned by Madara Uchiha, and as a summoned beast had to comply with his wishes."

"Okay could you tell me the important events and key points of your time training with Kyuubi?"

Naruto looked toward the window and answered "Yeah this may take a few minutes though."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Meanwhile at the base of The Hokage's tower*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They watched as Uzumaki Naruto walked into the Hokage tower to speak with Tsunade. Most of the people walked away talking about the speech and asking questions about Naruto, Those who were too young to know that he was the container for the Legendary Kyuubi No Kitsune were especially curious.

As the crowd filtered away only a small group remained at the bottom of the tower, Among them was a raven haired girl with light lavender eyes, Hinata Hyuuga. She stood shocked at what she had just heard she thought to herself "Naruto...saved Konoha?" it was no secret she had a long term crush on the blond Ninja but she had never expected that he would be able to take back Konoha by himself from ANBU ranked Shinobi. She knew he was strong yes, however she didn't realize he was that strong, Hinata's face was picking up a slightly pink shade while she thought about Naruto the hyperactive Knucklehead. Sakura stood near her as well as Ino they weren't only speechless but they were unable to think from the shock that their friend and Sakura's former teammate was capable of such a feat.

After a long silence Sakura finally managed to regain enough composure to speak "I don't believe it, Naruto came back on his own...and succeeded?"

"It does seem that way" Hinata stated shyly.

They waited for Naruto to come back down from Tsunade's office, they waited what seemed like forever. Their patience was however rewarded about a half hour later when Naruto came walking out of the front doors of the Tower with his silly grin on his face.

"Hi guys what's up?" He was particularly cheery after his talk with Tsunade and Jiraiya. They had praised him as being Like the Yondaime, Seriously who wouldn't be cheery after getting a compliment like that.

Sakura was the first to speak "Are you INSANE coming back to Konoha alone after that attack?"

She was yelling, Naruto was beginning to wonder if she was capable of being appreciative of anything instead of being angry about everything. For years he had loved her but she was always angry at him for everything he did, She hit him more times than he could count. As much as he had talked to Kyuubi about her, he had tried to defend her. Kyuubi however made the argument Naruto deserved better than all of the abuse that she had given him over the years. He was starting to realize now just what the Kyuubi meant, and realized it was true, but if he gave up on Sakura he would have nothing. He didn't know any other girls that he could think of that he knew very well and he didn't think most of the girls liked him very much.

"I know it was stupid but if I'd have asked you to come with me you would have just hit me and told me I was crazy for even thinking it, and we would still be in the woods trying to make a plan now wouldn't we?" Naruto sounded almost angry

Sakura was starting to worry, Naruto never got mad at her, he always shrugged off her abuse and smiled a wide smile when she said something he didn't like or she hit him. She wondered if something had happened during those 3 weeks he was missing. Hinata and Ino were also a bit surprised to hear Naruto take an angry tone with her.

Sakura's expression became more irritated than it already was. "Naruto what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me, I'm just irritated you're always yelling any time I do anything you yell at me, call me stupid, Hit me, I'm sick of it." Naruto's eyes where cold, This was a side of Naruto she had never had directed at her.

"If you weren't so reckless all the time maybe I wouldn't yell at you so much" She was still screaming.

Naruto turned around and started walking away, this only served to irritate Sakura further "Don't you dare walk away from me when I'm talking to you"

Naruto snapped back around and stared her in the eyes "Don't act like you own me, I'll walk away if I want to. Besides You're not _talking_ to me you're yelling at me. I'm not dealing with this right, I'm going home, Talk to me when you realize that yelling is only gonna serve to piss me off."

Sakura was confused, this wasn't like Naruto he wouldn't behave like this he was happy go lucky, He loved her, he had always just laughed her yelling off, She knew that the laughing was him covering up his emotional pain but she never expected him to talk any of his aggression out on her.

Ino piped in "Don't talk her like that you are being a real bastard you know"

Naruto snickered "I might be acting like one but my parents WERE married"

"How would you know you don't even know who your parents are" Sakura stated in a matter of fact tone.

"I didn't until 3 weeks ago, I know who they are, I know they were secretly married, and how they died, and That My real name isn't Uzumaki Naruto, now if you're done acting like you know more about my life than I do I'll be going" Naruto turned and walked away while Sakura's jaw was still slacked from the shock of being told off by him.

Hinata was equally shocked but the thought in her mind "What does he mean his real name isn't Uzumaki Naruto." she pondered the possibilities of what he might have meant but didn't come up with anything that made sense to her, she made a mental note to ask him about it when she got the chance. She was curious about what had happened over those three weeks, She told herself that she would have to stop by his apartment to ask him about it later, she was afraid but if he had the courage to come back to Konoha and fight a small scale war on his own, then she told herself she had to come up with enough to at least talk to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Back with Naruto*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kyuubi...."

"Yes Kit?"

"Did I do the right thing back there?" Naruto was somewhat saddened because he had snapped at Sakura

"Kit, The way she has treated you for all these years she just got what was coming to her, Honestly I think she deserved a lot more of your wrath then she got, so Don't worry about it."

"Without her though I have no one, I mean she's the only girl I know and most of the village hates me I don't think that will change even with what I did." Naruto sounded even more depressed.

"Well I know you fight because you love your home, and I know they hate you because of me, no one should be pushed into the corner like you have been your whole life." Kyuubi sounded reassuring to Naruto

After checking to make sure they hadn't followed him Naruto turned away from his old apartment and walked toward the other side of town, Tsunade had given him some things he had inherited, She had told him he was to inherit the entire Namikaze estate. He had been by the place several times, the gate was high so he couldn't see inside the complex but he had wondered before why he never saw anyone coming in or out of the complex. Now he realized that he never saw anyone there because he was the last living person entitled to be there at all. He walked to the main gate. Following Tsunade's instructions shed given him he placed his hands on the clan seal and and forced his chakra into the lock, after a moment he heard a loud click as the lock opened and he pushed the gate open.

He stood in shock at what he was seeing, his estate was a mansion, 3 stories high. The entry way to the property was massive with split stone walkways, he walked inside and pushed the gates shut forcing his chakra into the seal on this side of the gate it gave another loud click as the lock returned to it's previous state. Now that he was alone and could insure that he was alone he felt free to explore his new home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Later that afternoon*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hinata approached Naruto's apartment, She was nervous and didn't know what she was going to say to him but she knew that she had to talk to him. She raised a fist to knock at the door but brought it back down before she managed to complete the action she was so nervous. What if he didn't want to talk to her? Or worse what if he reacted like he did with Sakura and got angry at her? She pushed the thoughts aside determined she raised her hand again, she was about to knock when she heard a voice from her behind her "Are you looking for Naruto?"

Hinata spun around to see Naruto's landlord standing behind her she just nodded shyly.

"You won't find him here, he moved out earlier today shortly after the speech Tsunade gave members of her personal ANBU showed up to move his things."

"do you know where he left to?"

"I don't know they wouldn't tell me all they would say is that he no longer required this property as he had a different place of residence now."

Hinata slowly walked away thanking Naruto's landlord as she passed by. She wondered where Naruto could have gone she knew that he couldn't afford much better. Then it hit her, Naruto had learned who his parents were, and said his name wasn't Uzumaki Naruto. She wondered if he might have acquired an inheritance. Why would he be under a false name though? She took off quickly to question Tsunade she needed to know where Naruto had gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Five minutes later Tsunade's office*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A knock came to the door, Tsunade lifted her head and told whoever was on the other side of the door to come in. She watched as the door opened and in walked a sad looking Hinata. Something was wrong and it showed on the girls face.

"Tsunade, Where did Naruto go, I just went to his apartment because I wanted to talk to him and his landlord told me he didn't live there anymore."

"Yes it Is true that he has moves. I can't tell you where he if the best I can do it send an ANBU member to ask him if he's willing to see you and if it would be alright if you were escorted to his new home or if he would meet you elsewhere as to keep his new home secret."

"could you? How long would it take to reach him?" Hinata asked a glimmer of hope in her voice

"Maybe 15 minutes and we would know. Most likely sooner than that, that would be if he gave my ANBU a hard time." Tsunade stated she snapped her fingers and an ANBU appeared in her office nearly instantly. I have an assignment for you, this will be very easy"

The ANBU nodded and waited patiently for his orders. "Go to Naruto's new residence and ask him if he will see miss Hinata Hyuuga, and if he says yes ask him if it's alright if I have her escorted to his residence or if he would like to keep it secret where I should send her to meet him."

"Hai" without another word the ANBU was gone in a cloud of white smoke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Namikaze Estates*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kyuubi, Since I told realize now that I deserve better than Sakura, what do you thin I should do, I don't think any girls really like me" Naruto inquired over his mental link with Kyuubi.

"Well Kit I think you should start by changing your wardrobe. I mean there's nothing wrong with what you got but it's not exactly female friendly." Kyuubi told Naruto flat out.

Naruto thought for a moment before asking Kyuubi "What should I get then?"

"I advise you start by losing the orange, Get a straight black outfit something form fitting, then get a long coat your father worse a white trench coat with flames coming up from the bottom, Though I think a black coat with flames and some custom embroidery would suit you better." Naruto thought for a second trying to picture himself in the outfit Kyuubi described. Though he couldn't do it. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door, he wondered who could have been at the door the only people that could get in had to have permission from Tsunade. He got up and made his way to the entrance of his newly acquired mansion.

Naruto opened the doors to be greeted by the mask of an ANBU he stood for a second without speaking, after some time had passed

"what do you need?" Naruto asked casually.

"Tsunade sent me to tell you Hinata Hyuuga would like to speak with you"

"Hinata?" Naruto wondered to himself what she might want she was always quiet and kept to herself, She was always nice though when she did talk to him, after a minute of remember some of the things she had done, like giving him the option to cheat off her test at the Chunnin exams. Then later at the exams when she had given him the medicinal scream for his injuries, after thinking about these things he finally answered

"I'll talk to her"

"Would you like to have her brought here, or would you rather her not be escorted to your residence?"

"Well It's not that I wouldn't let her come here, but I'm going to be going to Ichiraku soon for some ramen. You can tell her to meet me there" Naruto told the masked man. As soon as he did the ANBU left in a puff of smoke.

Naruto walked out of his mansion toward his favorite restaurant he. This would be his first real meal since he returned to Konoha so he was excited he hadn't got to have ramen in weeks so to him he was heading straight towards bliss as he got closer to Ichiraku.

He found his way to one of the stools at the bar "Old man I'll have pork ramen today"

"Oh hello Naruto one pork ramen coming up" the old man stated before going to work preparing Naruto's food.

While he waited he noticed someone enter Ichiraku, He looked over to see Hinata. She walked over to him then asked "do you mind if I sit here?"

She pointed to the seat next to him. "Of course I don't mind Hinata, you wanted to talk to me?"

She turned a light shade of pink and just nodded, she didn't want to say something and stutter she was afraid she would sound stupid. He was the first one to break the silence "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well I wanted to ask how you got so strong."

"Is that all?"

"well, no."

"okay well I got strong because I had to get strong, to save my home. I went so far as to train in places that anyone in this village including Ero-Sennin and Tsunade thought I was crazy for going, but the results were what I needed."

"Where did you train that the Sannins' would have thought was crazy."

"The Demon world, I crossed Dimensions because in there world time passes faster though it feels the same basically I was away 3 weeks, but in that world I was there for 1 year. The time passes at what seems the same rate but in reality less time has passed if that makes any sense."

"Also I was wondering what you meant earlier when you told Sakura that you weren't Uzumaki Naruto."

"I can't tell you that here. You are my friend so I will tell you but it will have to be someplace that no one else will hear, any more questions Hinata?" Naruto sounded calm and curious

"Yes, I found out you moved but no one could tell me where" She was nervous to what his answer might be.

"Well When I found out who I really was Tsunade told me she had planned on telling me on my next birthday and that I would have got my inheritance then, but since I found out myself, she told me I should have what's rightfully mine, and I moved into my families old home."

"Oh." she said not satisfied with the answer but he continued speaking "If you want to see it, I can show you after we eat, and since no one can get it without my or Tsunade's direct permission I could answer your other question about my parents"

Hinata blushed her face turning a deeper shade of red, Naruto had just invited her to his house? Was this real? She asked herself. She nodded again afraid she would stutter because she was talking to the single crush she'd had since they first met at the academy.

She had watched his torment as they other kids picked on him, as they beat him after class was out, she had watched him sit alone on the swing near the academy, she had seen all the times the villagers had beat him nearly to death. She watched all the pranks he played on everyone. Honestly she didn't understand why everyone hated him, well she didn't for a long time, she now knew that it was because he housed the demon fox that had attacked the village when they were just babies.

She had spent her younger days...and even some a bit more recent stalking the boy. She had always wanted to get to know him but she never could find the courage to talk to him. Or even approach him most day. She realized then she thought she might very well be the only person in that village that loved him. Well other than the Tsunade but she was like a mother to him, The third had been like a grandfather to him, and Iruka-Sensei from the academy had been like a father to him, Kakashi had also made his way into Naruto's makeshift "family" they were the first people that had seen him and treated him as a human. They had risked a lot to be there for him. She was glad to see back then that some people actually cared. Even now though even with his friends getting more plentiful with time, She still thought she might have been the only girl that cared for him, though she wasn't about to be telling him that.

Naruto's food was served shortly after she agreed to go and see his new home, it didn't take him long to finish the first bowl, or second, third, tenth or fifteenth for that matter. She wondered just how much he was going to eat when finally after 18 bowls he stopped and pulled out his frog wallet...which she noticed was well beyond full it was nearly bursting. She wondered if he had been paid that much for his attack to save the village. She could see where what he did might get a very good sum of money as a reward. After Naruto paid he looked over to her "Come on, let's go, it's not too far."

"Okay" she stood and followed Naruto through the streets, they had some idle side conversations, He talked about ramen, she talked about her training with team 8 and the time they spent stuck in that forest after the attack, he told her about the first time he came back and his consequent capture, though he didn't explain the details of his escape, he would save that for once they were somewhere that people wouldn't overhear what he had to say. The villagers already hated him for what he had inside of him, let alone what they might think if they knew with the help of Kyuubi that he couldn't even be held captive in an ANBU cell with chakra suppressing seals.

They had walked slowly, Naruto found himself not wanting the conversation to end. This was the first time he had spoken to Hinata for very long at all, He was also thinking that it might have been the first conversation he he'd had with a woman that they actually listened to what he had to say but before he knew it they were standing at the massive overbearing gates of his estate, when he stopped she looked over to him and asked "Why did we stop?"

"Because we're here" He said as he put his hand on the lock and opened it using his chakra. She was shocked the gates were huge and once he opened them she was completely awe struck. This place made the Hyuuga estate look pitiful, now she was REALLY curious as to who his parents might have been. Once they were inside he relocked the gates and turned toward her "I noticed that you didn't get anything to eat at Ichiraku, would you like something to eat? I don't have much yet where I just moved in but I'd be happy to let you have anything you like from the kitchen."

"I'm alright. I ate before I asked Tsunade where you had moved to." This was a lie but she knew that he only usually kept instant ramen. As much as she did like ramen, she wasn't in the mood for it right now, she was more concerned that she was at a mansion that belonged to Naruto, and that he was with her and they were talking about their lives. She wanted to know a lot more about him she knew some of what he had been through, but she was still curious about the things she didn't know. Once they were inside the mansion he lead her to a massive living room. He made his way to a large chair seated behind a desk and told her to make herself comfortable. She chose to sit in a chair facing the desk from the other side, there were 3 chairs near it, the one Naruto was in and 2 that were facing him from the other side of the desk.

Naruto smiled "This was my fathers chair." His grin was huge. He was the happiest she had ever seen him, this smile wasn't his "I'm secretly in pain and hiding it" smile this was a genuine smile from happiness.

"So Naruto now that we are here. Who were you parents this place is amazing." The surprise of the place was still evident in her voice and Naruto gave in inward chuckle.

"My father was Minato Namikaze, This is the Namikaze compound." Naruto said still happy almost bragging.

It took a minute for it to click in her mind she recognized the name but for a second she couldn't place it, oh why did it sound so familiar she couldn't help but think that she should know the name. Then it hit her all at once, The Yondaime Hokage had been named Minato Namikaze, she stammered trying to speak "y-y-you m-m-mean to say y-your father was?"

"yes I'm the son of the fourth Hokage, that's why he had picked me to have demon sealed inside of, he didn't want me to have to bear the burden of this, but he had no choice, even though I wasn't the only child born that night he chose to use me because he couldn't bring himself to put this curse on someone elses child, so as much as it pained him he put it on me, his own son"

"and your mother?" she asked.

"Kushina Uzumaki. She was the princess of the whirlpool country"

Hinata was completely in shock now, his family was royalty on both sides. Born rulers. It took her a minute before asking another question. "was this house the only thing they left you?"

"well not really my father left me notes about different things, left me a whole bunch of Jutsu scrolls, and the contents of the family vault, which when I saw the inside of I nearly lost my mind."

"what do you mean you nearly lost your mind."

"there is enough money in there for ten lifetimes I could buy all the ramen in the world I think and I'd have money left over afterwords."

"You.....your....your rich?"

"Yea I just, well, I didn't know about it until I got here earlier." Naruto said in a soft but excited voice.

He had almost decided not to tell her about the money, he didn't want friends that wanted him because he had money, then he remembered who he was talking about, The Hyuuga heiress. She had money. Well her family did at least, and Hinata was a nice girl she wasn't the type to associate with people just because they had money. So he figured it would be safe to tell her, then after a moment he remembered something.

"Oh yea Hinata I have to ask that you don't tell anyone who I really am I mean my actual name is Naruto Namikaze. They called me by my mothers name so my fathers enemies wouldn't come after me, They actually had went so far to to tell the village that my mother had died before her pregnancy ended so my father had lost his entire family not just his own life that way everyone would think his legacy had died. And I don't want people to know who I am, or that I actually have money. I want to be known for me, not because I'm my fathers son. If that makes any sense to you"

"Naruto-kun, I promise I won't tell anyone, 'and I don't go back on my word, Believe it'" she giggled a little after mocking Naruto's signature phrase.

He just smiled and thought to himself "_why didn't I get to know her sooner, I knew she was nice, but she's also kinda funny, and maybe even cute.....WAIT what am I thinking? Did I really just think that?"_

After a few minutes more of talking he mentioned to Hinata that it was getting late, he knew she had a curfew she was supposed to be home by. He even offered to walk her home so she didn't have to make the walk alone. Much to his surprise she answered with "I know I should, but do I really have to leave I want to talk to you more Naruto-kun."

He wanted to talk more too though he was worried she might get in trouble because of him "But won't you get in trouble if you don't get home soon Hinata?"

"Well father will be angry with me if I'm late, but he's always angry with me anyways. I really don't want to go back" She sounded a little upset but was trying to hide it, Naruto from years of experience doing just that realized what she was doing immediately.

He thought for a second then asked "Why don't you want to go home Hinata-chan? Is there something wrong at home, Don't worry if you don't want to talk about it I'm not going to make you but I promise if you do I won't tell anyone"

"Well every time I'm home, my father calls me useless, he calls me a failure, he tells me I'm useless and I don't want to go back to that, just for one night I want to get away from him and actually enjoy a night in Konoha without his insults" She looked at the floor as if she was embarrassed about her home life.

Naruto thought for what seemed like several minutes to them though it was actually only a few seconds. He had an idea though. "Hinata-chan, you can stay here for the night, I'm gonna call for one of the ANBU and have them deliver a message to Tsunade telling her to tell your father that she sent you on a last minute mission, and the details are classified and that you will be back sometime tomorrow"

"Would she really do that?" Hinata asked curiously.

Naruto just smiled "she looks at me like a little brother, even if she wouldn't normally do it, If I tell them that I have important things to talk to you about including my family history and that I want it left secret she will" his grin spread even wider before he whistled, as soon as he did an ANBU was standing next to him. He made note that he thought he could really get used to having them on call, Tsunade had posted them on his estate to insure his protection for a while and some of them being older that knew his father had helped him adjust to his new home. The ANBU in front of him was wearing a dog mask, he didn't know why but he felt that there was something familiar about this man, like he'd been around him before, even his chakra felt familiar even though it wasn't hostile toward him at all, He thought maybe it was one of the ANBU root that had survived. No that wasn't it this chakra was one he felt long before then, he still couldn't place it though. After he failed to figure it out he told the ANBU to deliver his message and request to Tsunade. Then without ever speaking the ANBU made the ram hand seal and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Moments later, Tsunade's office.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ANBU wearing the dog mask appeared in a cloud of smoke in front of Tsunade's desk.

"I assume you have something to report?" she asked tiredly

The man nodded "yes"

Tsunade sat up a little straighter "alright tell me, and Kakashi, take the ANBU mask off"

"Yes Tsunade-Sama" with this Kakashi removed his ANBU mask revealing his signature face mask that covered the lower half of his face to his nose and the his Headband that was still drawn down over one his Sharingan eye. "Naruto has a message for you" Kakashi proceeded to tell Tsunade what Naruto had asked, and told her the real reason which he had overheard. Kakashi was a good Shinobi for a reason his senses were sharp, his hearing his sense of smell and his reflexes were all top notch, as well as his eyesight.

She looked at him for a minute then nodded before giving her answer "I will comply with his request, and Kakashi I'm sorry for calling you back to ANBU for this, but I don't trust some of the ANBU members and I know that even if one of them was to betray us that you would do anything you could to save Naruto."

"He is my Sensei's Legacy, he is the last Namikaze, and Sensei's last remaining family, and since Minato isn't here to protect him it's the least I can do." Kakashi replied.

"I know that's why I picked you for this assignment" after she finished she fell silent for a second in thought. Then gave Kakashi orders to let Hiashi know Hinata wasn't going to be home because of this "Mission" and then inform Naruto his request was fulfilled and resume his guard detail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Hinata and Naruto had gotten the word that Tsunade had agreed to Naruto's request which gave them both a small sense of relief, Hinata because she didn't have to go him to her fathers insults and degradation and Naruto because He had a friend to talk to for a while, Also he wasn't that keen on spending his first night in his new mansion alone, it may have been for reasons caused by his childhood but he was almost afraid to be alone especially not being used to the size of this place. Having the company of his friend was reassuring and comforting.

They talked late into the night, They both had learned a lot about the other. She had told him about missions she had been on, where she liked to burn free time, stories of her Kiba and Shino that were in several cases rather amusing. Naruto had talked about his time with Jiraiya and then he explained his training with Kyuubi and how hard that had been. She sat there and listened in awe of some of the training he had gone through there, No wonder he had gotten strong, he had really pushed himself.

As the night dragged on Naruto was starting to get tired, and let out a yawn, which told him it was time for them to go to bed, Besides, He intended on going shopping tomorrow for a new outfit to replace his orange and black one. That meant it might be a long day, so he explained to Hinata he had plans for the next day to go shopping then after another minute asked if she might come along, She thought about it, Her thoughts looked something like "Well I don't have to be home until tomorrow night now so YESSSS"

"I'd like that" Hinata replied an a sweet tone.

Naruto lead her upstairs to long hallway with several doors on either side and one at the end. He told her to pick her room, the only one that was off limits was the one at the very end of the hall and that was his.

She picked one close to his which he didn't blame her this place was huge, and it also served so that if she got up and needed something he was only a few steps away. They exchanged a good night and walked into their separate rooms. Naruto's being the master bedroom also had it's own private bathroom attached, he decided that he would take a shower before bed. It had been a long day.

He picked up a set of boxers and his sleeping cap and took them with him to change into once he got out of the shower. It felt nice when the warm water hit his face. As the drops hit his body they splashed into more of a slight mist, while he was in here he took the time to think before going to bed,

"Hinata is a lot cooler than I thought, but even so I wonder what she likes to eat, maybe after we go shopping I could get her something nice, I mean money isn't an object. Damn I wish I knew someplace really classy to take her..." He couldn't remember for a while then it hit him "Kakashi had mentioned a place he thought was really classy once, I'll have to find him and ask him...I shouldn't leave though in case Hinata needs something" Naruto had an ingenious Idea. He formed a shadow and put it in henge before sending it away to find Kakashi and ask what the restaurant he had mentioned was really nice was.

A few minutes later the Naruto clone had fount Tsunade, of course this wasn't a hard task. She was in her office drinking, like she did a good number of her nights. "Granny Tsunade, where is Kakashi I have a question for him"

"He's a little busy but I guess I can send for him, his task isn't the most important" Tsunade snapped her fingers and an ANBU appeared. Naruto had been seeing them a lot lately, The reason he used was that after the village was attacked and their recent victory in reclaiming it that she was using them not only for her tasks but to help insure the villagers felt safe seeing a few ANBU now and then especially ones you know to be Tsunade's could be comforting they were skilled, there was no arguing that.

Tsunade motioned for the ANBU to come close and she whispered something quietly enough that Naruto couldn't hear to the ANBU, The man nodded flashing out of the room as quickly as he had come.

Tsunade let out a sigh and thought "Sorry Kakashi you're gonna have to make a stop somewhere to take off that mask before you get here." she had told the ANBU where to find Kakashi and to have him remove his ANBU mask before he arrived.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*TO BE CONTINUED*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I know this is a couple days late considering how I usually post, but it's also a bit longer than normal so I hope you all enjoy, Thank you to all that complimented my story so far, and Those who critiqued it. Please leave a review, and I hope to have the next chapter up in the next couple of days, Well once I decide how I want it to play out.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you for the reviews everyone, it makes me keep tapping away at this story, This story is turning out to be a little better liked than I assumed it would, just remember it's all of you that keep reading and subscribing and reviewing that make me keep writing this, and now it's that time I leave the word for my TOTALLY unofficial proof reader ^.^

Rose Tiger: Thank you for your Input and pointing out my spelling mistake, I have a hard time remembering how names are spelled so that was greatly appreciated I went back through and corrected all instances of the name in chapter 4. Now just to replace the chapter with the corrected one, your input has proved valuable as always, do point out any mistakes I make in this chapter as well, you are a huge help to this story.

Genma1690: Thank you for your compliment I hope the future of this story doesn't disappoint, there will be much more action, and there of course is the romance that's starting to form, their might also be a bit of tragedy and drama thrown in here and there. I hope you continue to enjoy my story.

That being said.

Now on to chapter 5.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Tsunade's office*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kakashi appeared in his signature cloud of smoke, He was curious as to why Tsunade had asked him to come to her office and even more so why she had requested he lose the mask before he got here, it was just after he completed this thought that he saw Naruto sitting by the window.

"_How did he leave without me noticing?"_ Kakashi asked himself.

"You requested my presence Tsunade-Sama?"

"Well I was asking you here for Naruto he had a question for you and since you were on a such a tedious mission I figured you could use a break." Tsunade answered sounding bored.

"Well Naruto what is it that you need?" Kakashi turned to Naruto as he spoke.

Naruto looked at Kakashi "Well I am going shopping with someone tomorrow, and I wanted to know the name of that really fancy restaurant that you mentioned a while back."

"Why would you need to know a fancy restaurant, could it be that Naruto has a date?" Kakashi asked teasingly.

"NO, it's nothing like that, she's just a friend but I thought it would be cool to take her somewhere nice for lunch."

"She? So it is a date" Kakashi stated the crease of his eye showing that he had a grin under that mask.

Naruto was getting more Defensive "I already told you it's not a date" he yelled.

"Well if it's not a date then why are you getting so upset when I'm only teasing you?"

Naruto was silenced. It really wasn't a date though in his mind. He had only ever been on one date before but it wasn't really a date it was with Sakura the night that Sasuke had left Konoha. Although he didn't really consider that a date, as much he considered it trying to be there for her when she needed him.

Naruto was calmed now "Listen, it's not a date. I've never been on a date I just think since I've actually got the option now since I have money from my inheritance that I should do nice things for my friends when they are with me."

"Alright I still say it's a date" Kakashi stated flatly.

"Yeah yeah, now what is the name of that restaurant?"

"It's called, Renai." he answered casually.

Naruto realized exactly what the name meant. Now he was wondering if he should really do this.

"So how do I get there?" Naruto asked a little unsure now.

Kakashi pulled out a map of Konoha and circled a building on the outskirts of town. "It's there, and just a warning, the place lived up to the name, so if your not trying to turn lunch into a date, I advise you rethink taking her there."

"Are there any other places that are still really nice, without being a date exclusive kind of place?" Naruto asked not wanting to make Hinata think he was chasing after her, She was nice and all but he didn't think she would go on date with him.

"well there is this nice place called Migoto, it's a wonderful place, it's a classy kind of place. Good scenery and overall just a nice place." Kakashi made another circle on his map pointing out the location of Migoto.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei"

With that the clone vanished in a puff of white smoke transfering it's memory to the original Naruto who was currently in the middle of his shower. He shook his head slightly amused at the accusations that Kakashi had made about his shopping trip really being a date. He didn't consider this a date, it was just a friendly shopping trip that's all there was to it.

Naruto stepped out of the shower and dried himself off and walked back into his room in just his boxers and his sleeping cap. He didn't notice for a second that he wasn't the only one in the room. He probably wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn't heard "eep" from the other side of his room.

He was suddenly more aware that all he had on was his boxers, and that Hinata had made his way to her room, he immediately rethought his outfit, maybe it wasn't a good idea to sleep like that when he had company, especially when the company was female.

Hinata had turned red seeing Naruto in just his boxers, even though she was embarrassed she couldn't help but lock eyes on his well defined and toned muscles he was built solid, his abs weren't over pronounced, though their was a slight shadow where one set ended and another started, his arms look strong the muscles were well defined. The training he had done had definitely hardened his build some.

When she had realized she was staring she looked down suddenly the floor was the most interesting thing in the room to her. While she was looking down Naruto made his way quickly to his closet and grabbed a wife beater and light combat pants and made himself a bit more decent. Once he had gotten his clothing on he looked over to Hinata.

"I'm sorry about that Hinata I should have been more considerate where as I have company." he was nervous she would be upset with him.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, I shouldn't have come into your room without your permission." Hinata was looking at the ground still.

"Is there something you need Hinata?" Naruto asked he was curious as to why she had made her way to his room.

She looked up to him for the first time since she had seen him come into the room. "Ummm. It's just hard to sleep, this place is so big and it feels empty."

"Aren't you used to sleeping in a big house, I mean the Hyuuga compound isn't what I'd call small" Naruto asked.

"Well at home there are lot's of other people too this place is just empty we are the only ones here it makes me feel a little uneasy being alone in a place this big." Hinata told him shyly.

"If it makes you more comfortable I guess." Naruto thought for a second before finishing his statement. He wasn't sure this was a good idea. "If it makes you more comfortable you can stay here with me tonight, you can have the bed I'll sleep by the window in my sleeping bag."

"I couldn't do that I'll sleep on the floor it's your bed I couldn't ask you to sleep on the floor in your own room in your own house."

"Hinata your not asking me to, I'm offering to, and I refuse to let my guest sleep on the floor and that's final, I'll get my sleeping bag."

Naruto made his way to his closet and pulled out his sleeping bag he used for missions and set up his "campsite" by his window. Hinata meanwhile hesitantly crawled into Naruto's bed and made her way under the covers, She felt bad for making him sleep on the floor but she could tell from his tone that she couldn't persuade him to change his mind and let her sleep on the floor while he took his bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Next morning*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hinata woke up before Naruto she was confused at first where she was, she had forgotten she had spent the night at Naruto's until she heard his snoring and looked over to the window and saw him on the floor completely out of his sleeping bag sprawled out. She thought to herself "Wow he snores pretty loud."

She had went to make her way to the bathroom Naruto had pointed out was for her guest room and another, every two rooms shared one, but before she could open the door an ANBU wearing a dog mask appeared next to her and held out her mission pack silently, she hadn't brought any clothing to Naruto's, she had planned on taking a shower and changing into the same clothes she was wearing but she didn't have other clothes so she figured it was better than nothing. However the mission pack he was holding out had several changes of clothing in it, she wondered how he had gotten it, then she recognized him as the ANBU that Naruto had sent to Tsunade to ask if she'd tell Hinata's father that she was on a last minute mission so she could stay at Naruto's and figured whoever she sent to tell her father had retrieved it for her, they had probably told her father she was leaving immediately after her briefing and wouldn't have time to get it herself so they would take it to her.

She took it from him. "Thank you."

The ANBU nodded then disappeared again as quickly as he had come. She couldn't help but feel like she new that man from somewhere there was something so familiar about him. She would have to look into it later, though she doubted that he or Tsunade would tell him so she'd have to find out on her own somehow if she wanted to know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*several minutes later*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hinata felt refreshed after she had showered and gotten into some clean clothing. She returned to Naruto's room only to find that he wasn't there anymore, she wondered where he might have gone and found her way back downstairs and towards the living room, When she passed the kitchen though she heard something and looked over to see Naruto making pancakes, well he was trying to. He wasn't the greatest of cooks but at least he was trying, He was used to making instant ramen and well, instant ramen.

Naruto looked up and noticed Hinata standing in the door watching him she looked almost amused and he was curious how long she had been watching him.

"How long have you been standing there" he asked sheepishly

she giggled a little "Long enough to realize you have no idea how to cook"

She walked into the kitchen and motioned for Naruto to move so she could do the cooking. "Naruto I know you're gonna tell me I'm a guest and you won't have a guest doing chores like cooking, but it's something I enjoy and something I can tell you aren't that experienced at so, If you don't mind, I think it would be better if I took over."

Naruto was going to argue but she gave him a look that told him this wasn't something she was willing to negotiate. He moved over to the table nearby and sat down and watched her set to work making their breakfast, she was graceful, her movements were almost too smooth, and within minutes the kitchen was starting to smell like breakfast would be decent. It was obvious to Naruto she must have spent a great deal of time cooking before, she knew just what she was doing and going about it in a very precise matter, when she was done there were two stacks of pancakes on their plates the one for her only had two on it, his had the rest, meaning about 16 or so.

They were perfectly round and all the exact same size, Naruto was wondering how she had managed to do that, whenever he made them they were oblong and never the same size, He didn't bother to ask her though. They ate their breakfast in near silence, not because they didn't want to speak to each other, Naruto was a little busy shoving his stack of pancakes down his throat. Hinata was trying to hold back her giggles as she watched him eat. Yea he ate fast, but even when he was shoveling the food down he there was still something a bit cute about it.

When they finished Naruto thanked her for cooking their breakfast and even went so far as to compliment her skills in cooking. He immediately switched subjects though and mentioned that they should get going and start their shopping trip, he had no idea how long they would be, He knew he needed new clothing, and he figured she would want to look at things here and there, and then there was lunch. It was going to be a long day.

They headed out the first stop was clothing, Naruto didn't know many places to get new clothes, his orange suits were supplied by the third Hokage and the black and orange ones he was wearing now had been bought for him by Jiraiya while they were training for his 2 and a half year mission. Hinata however did know of a few places, and she asked what he was looking for and he explained.

"Well I was thinking I kinda want something like what my father wore, only I'm thinking darker colors than he wore. So I need loose and light combat pants, and I need a form fitting long sleeve black combat shit, and an over coat." he said listing off the items that Kyuubi had mentioned.

Hinata thought for a moment. "I think I know just the place."

She lead him across Konoha to a relatively small shop just on the edge of the market district and explained that this place was owned by a retired Shinobi that made good combat clothing and if need be would do custom orders and some of the outfits were really nice to look at and even nicer in a combat situation. They walked in and Naruto was unsure where to start there was a lot of different kinds of outfits and different styles of shirts and pants. Shopping for clothing was completely new to him so he was at a loss. He stood just scanning over the different sections until a voice brought him back to reality.

"Are you looking for something specific, or are you just browsing" Naruto looked up to see a tall man looking at him, the man was wearing what looked almost like a Shinobi uniform with a few modifications here and there, and he wore a set of glasses with rectangular lenses.

"Well I am looking for something that is comfortable, and easy to fight in, and I have how I kind of want it to look figured out in my head." Naruto admitted to the man.

"Tell me what you are looking for and I might be able to help you find it."

Naruto proceeded to tell the man his list of what he wanted for clothing and the shop owner set immediately to picking up several outfits around the store and brought them back to Naruto then lead him to the changing rooms so that he could try them on to see if they were what he was looking for. Hinata waited near the changing rooms, she was curious what he would look like in the different outfits that the owner had picked out based on his description. When he finally came out he was wearing an outfit almost exactly what he had envisioned in his head except the arms on the shirt were too short and the body of it was a little too loose.

The shop owner made his way back to Naruto asking if he liked the outfit.

"I do but the shirts a little too loose, and the sleeves are too short." Naruto answered him bluntly.

"Hmmm, I think I can fix it" the man said motioning for Naruto to give him the shirt, which he complied to. He stood and waited while the owner put it back and grabbed one a size larger and took it to the front counter which also served as his work bench. He set about resizing the torso of the outfit.

Ten minutes later he handed Naruto the modified shirt which he put on and looked in the mirror nearby, it looked nearly perfect, now he just had to find a coat that he thought looked nice, he turned back to the shop owner and asked what he carried for coat, The man looked at him for a moment and told him to wait just a moment. A few minutes later he came back carrying 3 or 4 coats none of them suited his style though and he sat them down.

"Do you have any long coats in black, I'd like one that has flames embroidered from the bottom up that goes midway down my shins."

"I think I can do that it will take about 20 minute to find one suitable and detail it, so if you have time to wait?" the man asked.

"I can wait."

The owner walked away, he had made a trench coat like that before he recalled, though the other one was white. He had made it for Minato Namikaze. He looked back at Naruto, there was a good resemblance between them he wondered how he had missed it. If he had glances quickly he might have actually mistaken him for Minato.

He returned 25 minutes later with the coat in hand, he had just redyed one of the custom coats Minato had ordered to black and touched up the flames a little. He handed Naruto the coat, and when he put it on, The owners jaw dropped He looked as if he had seen a ghost at that moment, if he had left the coat white, he would have sworn that it was Minato in front of him all over again, this was almost exactly how Minato had looked when he had bought his first trench coat here. He shook the thought away.

"Is this what you were looking for?" he asked.

Naruto's eyes were lit up shining bright blue "It's exactly what I was looking for, how much would it be to get 8 more of this outfit?"

"Well it would be pretty expensive....you know what don't worry about it, it's on the house"

The man couldn't shake the thought of just how much he looked like Minato, and he had 10 more outfits just like the one Naruto was wearing, Minato had ordered them weeks before the Kyuubi had attacked but didn't live long enough to collect them, He just had to redye the coats and touch up all the flame work.

"Come back tomorrow to collect the rest of them. You can take that one now."

Hinata was stunned, Naruto looked amazing in his new outfit, She had thought he was nice looking before, but now he was amazing looking, she was almost worried that now she would have to fight other women off of him.

Naruto was surprised he was expecting to have made several stops to find his outfit, though he just had to make the one, he was curious though how the man had made a coat almost Identical to his fathers so quickly. Something screamed to him to ask but he dismissed the thought.

"So Hinata is there anything you'd like or any other places you would like to go?"

"I do need to get more Kunai and a few Shurikens."

Naruto followed her to a supply shop for Shinobi that carried weapons of almost any variety you could ask for. They made their way around the shop, she checked each Kunai she looked at for weight and how sharp they were. After she had finally picked enough she made her way to the counter to pay for them, The man at the counter told her the price and she went to pull out her coin purse to pay, but before she could Naruto had laid the proper amount onto the counter, The man looked at him and turned pale, for a second he had though he's seen a ghost, This boy looked so much like the Yondaime it was honestly a bit scary.

"Is there something wrong?" Naruto asked noticing the change in the mans expression.

"It's...it's nothing, thank you for your business and enjoy your day."

Naruto and Hinata left the shop, she had wanted to argue that he shouldn't be paying for her supplies but she decided to accept the gesture Naruto wasn't used to having money, she figured since he had a good amount now he wanted to treat his friends to things. Something he hadn't been able to do until now. When they were a safe distance from the shop.

"That was weird, did you see the way he looked when he saw me?" Naruto asked, it was obvious he didn't understand the mans reaction.

Hinata looked at him "I did. I wonder what went through his mind."

They continued walking. They talked about various things, they were just walking around now with no destination, Naruto had mentioned he had planned their lunch but there was still a while before they would go to eat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*A nearby tea shop.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ino and Sakura were talking about their recent missions, enjoying a cup of hot tea. Their conversation was that of close friends they talked about their missions, their home lives, and of men. Naruto's strange behavior had come up and Sakura had changed the subject she was still upset over his outburst the previous day.

"In any case this town doesn't have enough guys that are good to look at most of them aren't all that attractive." Sakura stated.

About that time Naruto and Hinata were walking by.

"I wouldn't say that" Ino replied pointing to Naruto.

They were both unaware who it was, his change of clothing had completely altered his look. Sakura's jaw almost hit the ground when she saw.

"I take that back" she sounded completely stunned, it was only once they were almost totally out of sight they saw Hinata walking next to him.

"was that? Now it couldn't be, She's only interested in Naruto."

Then it hit them both. That WAS Naruto. When had he gotten so attractive? Sakura was in complete disbelief. He actually looked.....good.

She excused herself from the table and started to follow them keeping enough distance to go unnoticed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*TO BE CONTINUED*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: One more chapter down. I see the makings of some drama......can't have romance without at least a little bit right? In any case let me know what you think. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated.

And a quick thank you to all of you that subscribed to this story.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thank you for the reviews, they have made me smile. This story is getting more popular I'm passed 2K views, that's more than I expected within the first 10 days. However the number of reviews while the one's I've got have been helpful, there are only a select group of people reviewing and to them thank you very much for keeping with me in this. Other news here this story has become a collaborative project with a friend of mine, they are helping me with something I'm not very good at, Imagery and Immersion. Yes, this means the chapters so far are going to be redone. While the story will remain the same, it's getting more detailed. The plot I promise won't change but the world is going to become more vivid. Hopefully this will make the story a lot better. I'm debating whether I should post it separately or if I should Replace the chapters from this with the new ones, once we get them fixed up I'll post the first chapter and place a poll. Until then however the poll will not exist.

Rose Tiger: I'm really glad you liked that chapter. Your reaction made me smile.

Genma1690: I'm glad you liked the twist, but I'll just leave you with this one to ponder, the plot twist that will be coming in the next couple chapters may just blow your mind.

Ivan: Thank you for reading and helping me fix the imagery factors I appreciate it.

DICLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. If I did I'd be writing in Japanese right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Streets of Konoha*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto had noticed a familiar chakra following him and Hinata for the last hour, though he couldn't quite place it, He knew the person well, that much he knew for sure but who did he know that would be following him and Hinata without speaking to them? He had looked back a couple times and didn't see anyone following. This only served to make him even more uneasy why the hell would someone he knew follow him and not want him to know about it? He kept his guard up but moved on toward the restaurant Migoto for his and Hinata's lunch.

They arrived at a plain looking building, it didn't have much to distinguish it on the outside, You might have missed that it was a restaurant completely due to the outside appearance of the place. The only reason Naruto knew he was at the right place was the sign over the door that read Migoto.

The building was made of brick though some of them were crumbling due to time. The building was mud colored, natural brick. It lacked windows, the place looked like it could have passed for an abandoned warehouse rather than a restaurant.

Naruto had sent a clone to talk to Kakashi about this place some more, and Kakashi mentioned it required that he have a reservation, Kakashi also told him not to worry He would make the reservations for Naruto all he had to do was show up.

Naruto asked himself "did Kakashi just trick me into coming to a run down hole in the ground. Oh well I guess I should at least have a look inside before I decide to go somewhere else."

"Hinata wait here just a second I'm going to step inside for a second, I'll be right back out."

"Okay" Hinata didn't recognize this place, she asked herself what business Naruto would have in a place like this.

The second Naruto stepped in the door he was stunned and stopped in his tracks the place was amazing, The entry room had a desk near the back, there was a door behind it, the door was really more of a curtain made of dark fabric, there was really nice embroidery on all of the fabrics in the room, the curtain had red tribal designs on it, there were wall tapestries covering most of the walls, the one on the wall to the right of the entrance was a likeness of the Hokages' of the village. The only one missing was Tsunade The first 4 were portrayed standing shoulder to shoulder with facing out over Konoha standing on the Hokage monument. Naruto's eyes focused on the one furthest to the right, The man he knew to be his father, Minato. He felt the emotions build, for so long he hadn't even known who his family had been and now it was still sinking in that he was from a very important family, and that his father had possibly been the most powerful Shinobi in the world while he was the Hokage.

He continued to examine the tapestries, turning to the one to the left of the entrance. The tapestry again took up the entire wall, the portrayal was the valley of the end, the first Hokage was standing on the water facing a man Naruto assumed to be Madara Uchiha, the man had the Sharingan activated they were both poised to attack, the picture was almost lifelike, the artist had to have been very skilled to be able to make such work. The ripples in the water they way their hair looked to be blown by the wind everything about it looked realistic, The first had A kunai in his hand, standing in a stance that reminded him of Yamoto. Madara stood in a stance similar to that of the stance that Itachi used for Taijutsu. The back wall behind the desk was the same black fabric as the curtain that was hanging in the door frame out of this reception area. There was a large chandelier hanging over head, the light refracted through what seemed like a thousand little crystals.

Naruto approached the desk at the back of the reception area, The desk was made of what looked like cherry wood, there were intricate designs carved into the wood almost as nice as the tapestries only the designs carved into the desk were lacking color, after looking it over a second time he realized the several smaller designs were actually one very large and very intricate design The design was the view from the top of the Hokage monument over the city of Konoha. The work was beautifully done, Naruto had no doubt in his mind that all of the artwork here must have been very expensive, After a moment examining the desk a tall man in a gray suit came into the reception room from behind the curtain and walked up to the back side of the desk, Naruto straightened up nearly instantly to look at the man, he looked to be maybe in his late 20s he had relatively pale skin and long straight black hair that fell down to his lower back. He looked to be a very respectable man the way he held himself told Naruto he was a a professional businessman.

"Excuse me sir, do you have a reservation?" The businessman asked.

"I'm here to make sure, I should have one for about 25 minutes from now, should be a reservation for two, the name is Naruto Uzumaki."

The man pulled up a book from behind the desk and flipped through the pages until he reached the one that listed the time frame Naruto had asked about.

"Uzumaki, reservation for two, for 1:30 PM, when can we expect your guest to arrive?"

"Actually she is waiting outside, I wanted to make sure I had the reservation before I brought her in." Naruto replied not wanting to let the man know that he had doubted this place was nice enough for dinner.

"_Looks like Kakashi really did pull through on this one"_ Naruto thought to himself.

"I'll go get her, so I'll be back in just a second" Naruto told the man at the desk.

Naruto quickly walked back out to meet Hinata, This was definitely a nicer place than he had expected from the outside of the building, the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover." suddenly made a whole lot of sense to him.

The man waited until Naruto had walked out of the room before glancing over the the Tapestry of the Hokage's and locking his eyes on Minato. His mined raced this was impossible, someone that looked that much like the Yondaime? He wondered if it could possibly be a coincidence, Konoha didn't have a lot of blond men, let alone ones that could pass for Minato's clone.

Naruto found Hinata pacing in front of the place waiting for him to come back.

"Hinata come on, this is the place." She looked at him confused

This was the place he had mentioned he was taking her for lunch? He had told her it was supposed to be a nice place. This place looked like at any moment it would collapse onto itself. She pushed the thought aside afraid that if she said anything she might possibly offend him.

She followed Naruto inside, the second she saw the reception room she gasped this place was very true to it's name.

(A/N: Migoto means "Beautiful")

Naruto lead her to the desk where the businessman was still waiting.

"Are you two ready to be seated?" The man asked.

Naruto Nodded to the man.

"I see this reservation is for one of out private dining booths, I must say that's a good choice" The man stated while smiling.

"Please follow me I'll take you to your seats."

They followed the man through the Black curtain only to be stunned again by the beauty of this place, The Dining hall had several statues in the likenesses of the Hokages' and the legendary Sannins' the walls were painted with scenes for Konoha's legends, battle scenes depicting victory during the battles of the great ninja wars. One wall was dedicated to weapons of legend, several swords where depicted on the wall, as well as gauntlets. Naruto recognized a few of the weapons on that wall, one of them was in the Vault at his own mansion, his fathers sword, Another set he recognized were Asuma's claw like blades. All of the weapons had a small article written next to them, telling who they had belonged to, and why they were considered to be legendary. There was a fountain in the middle of the room three tiers, each a round basin creating small waterfall like effect as each overflowed into the one below it, The bottom of the fountain was marble and had Cherry blossoms carved into the stone. The basin itself was designed in such a way that if it had been empty the painting on the bottom would have looked like stains, but due to the distortion from the light refracting in the water the images painted in the bottom had been corrected to and looked like roses. Naruto wondered how they had managed to get the effect they did. He continued to follow the Businessman to the back of the dining hall and through another door into a room with a small table in the middle, two seats, one on either side, the the only lights in the room were candles on the table, Naruto was beginning to get mad at Kakashi

"_He set me up for a damn date despite me telling him that it wasn't"_ He thought to himself.

"Hinata gasped again she was in shock this place wasn't only Beautiful, but she was getting to have a candlelight meal with Naruto, she honestly couldn't have asked for a better day than she had been having, she had learned a lot about Naruto. She had got to help him pick his new clothing though she had mostly watched the owner of the clothing shop pick outfits and she watched Naruto try them on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Outside Migoto in an alleyway*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura watched Naruto take Hinata into this building that looked like it was falling to pieces and asked herself "_Why is he taking her into a place like this? Couldn't he pick a better place, this place looks like it could fall down any second."_

She was mildly irritated that it was Hinata and not her though, even though the place didn't look very appealing to her, it wasn't fair that Naruto was treating Hinata to dinner when he should have been treating HER to a meal. He had been chasing after her for years not Hinata. It wasn't fair she thought that the only place he had ever offered to take her was Ichiraku for ramen, but he took Hinata an actual restaurant instead of taking her to a ramen bar.

Sakura had never been inside of Migoto but had heard Kakashi mention the place once, She didn't know what kind of place it was but she really didn't like the looks of it. She would have to yell at Naruto later for not taking her out to dinner. Yell? No she would have to "talk" to him about it. He looked amazing, the way his new outfit made him look even made her kind of want to be seen on a date with him, she hadn't realized he was capable of looking anything but goofy. She waited for him to come back out she figured it could be a while but was determined to see what else about him had changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Naruto and Hinata's booth*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their eyes were beginning to adjust to the low lighting of the booth by the time that their waiter brought them their menu's. This place was nice, from where they were they could smell all different kinds of food, Though Naruto had never been here and didn't know what kind of food they served. He cracked open the menu, as he scanned it he almost went into shock, they had everything it seemed, they even had ramen, Why had he never heard of this place? He'd have to thank Kakashi for pointing it out to him, that is after he gave him a good punch for setting him up like it was a date when Naruto had specifically told him otherwise. It wasn't that Naruto didn't want to a date with Hinata. There was a time he would have said he wasn't interested but over the last 24 hours talking with her, though he couldn't say he was in love with her, he had taken an interest in her, and unlike the way he used to look at dates, He now realized that their purpose was to get to know a person better while spending time with them alone. His complaint was that he had only asked Hinata to come shopping with him as a friend for now, he hadn't made sure this was okay with her. He hoped that she wouldn't mind. After picking what he wanted for his lunch he sat the menu down and for the first time took a good look around the the booth. It was obvious that this restaurants art catered to Shinobi, this a lot of it wouldn't be as interesting to a civilian. The artwork in this booth was of a few Shinobi in the night, They were ANBU members. Naruto figures from the masks that they might have been hunter Nins, He suddenly realized something though, the man in the center, he had seen that mask before. He had a feeling that it was recent, then it struck him, the man he sent to talk to Tsunade for him and had been on guard detail at his house. Who was he to be important enough to be in the artwork in a place like this. He would have to ask the man when he got back, although to be honest he didn't expect an answer.

"Have you two decided what you would like this afternoon?"

Naruto's thoughts were broken when the waiter spoke.

"I'll have the Miso ramen." Naruto told the man politely

"I'll have the same" Hinata stated significantly quieter than her counterpart.

Naruto started staring back at the man depicted on the wall again. Who was he? Why would someone important enough to be pictured in a place in likes with the Hokages' of the village be on guard detail for his home? The artwork had just brought up a lot of questions in Naruto's mind. When the waiter left Naruto turned back to Hinata.

"I'm sorry about this I had asked for a reservation for a normal lunch not one like this, This seems like the kind of thing that is more of a date than a lunch with a friend, I hope you don't mind."

The dim lighting was doing a good job of hiding the slight blush that started across her face when he had mentioned that it seemed like a date. It took her several seconds to think of what to say.

"It's okay Naruto-kun I really don't mind."

Was Hinata's voice getting quieter or was it just him? Now that he had cleared that up he looked one more time at the Shinobi on the wall. When he did Hinata followed his stare and gasped, she spoke quietly.

"Isn't that the ANBU that has been guarding you?"

"Yea I think so, I've been trying to figure out why someone so important would be on guard detail watching me."

"I don't know but his chakra felt familiar I'm sure I've met him somewhere else I just can't quiet place it."

Naruto perked up suddenly, The smell of Miso ramen had caught his attention. Sure enough the waiter walked into their booth a moment later carrying a bowl of ramen on each hand. Hinata felt kind of silly ordering ramen in a place like this, but Naruto didn't seem to have any problems with the idea. She was envious a little of his light spirit, He didn't give a second thought to ordering something as simple as ramen in a place like this, while she would have almost felt obligated to get something a little more fancy if she hadn't been with him. This seemed like the kind of place her family would have gone and gotten very expensive possible exotic foods. She pushed the thought aside and watched Naruto start to eat.

Naruto was making an effort not to eat too fast, He wanted this to be a nice experience, and in a place like this weeks ago he might not have cared about etiquette but he had learned a lot during his stay in Kyuubi's village. The fox had taught him some manners, Kyuubi gave him no choice really, it was either obey the proper etiquette for eating in classy places, or he didn't get to eat until the next meal. Needless to say under those circumstances Naruto learned quickly.

He watched as she ate as well, she was graceful even with ramen if that was possible. She took care not to drop any or get any of the broth on the table. Naruto watched for a moment longer before he continued his meal.

The two enjoyed their meals only talking occasionally. It wasn't long before they had both finished their food. The water came by shortly after they had finished.

"Do you two need anything?" The man asked politely.

Naruto just smiled "I think we've had enough could you bring the bill?"

"Of course." The waiter left them.

"Hinata did you enjoy your meal?"

"Yes, thank you."

"You don't have to thank me."

Hinata nodded just as the waiter returned. "Here is your bill sir."

"Thank you." Naruto looked at the bill and his eyes widened for a moment before he took out his wallet and put a rather large sum of money down with the bill and then set another decent sized pile of money in the waiters hand as a tip.

"That's a very generous tip young sir, might I ask your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Thank you mister Uzumaki."

The waiter pocketed his tip and then took the money and bill. "would you two like me to escort you out?"

"No I think we can manage, thank you" Naruto was fairly quick to answer.

They walked back through the main dining hall and then the reception area returning to the street. They hadn't walked very far from Migoto when someone called out. "Hey Naruto."

He turned around to see Sakura standing in the middle of the street, and she didn't look very happy. Naruto didn't know what to say or do, but he knew one thing, This couldn't possibly end well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TO BE CONTINUED~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: cliffhanger? Why I would never. Anyways, please review, thank you.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm not in a good mood while writing this, so it might turn out more harsh than I had planned this chapter to be, but oh well I still hope you all enjoy. Thank you all for the reviews. Also I'm proud to say this story just passed the 3K total views mark today, I'm kind of proud of it. 3K views in 9 days.

WARNING: This chapter contains strong language some may find offensive...you have been warned.

GravityTheWIZARD: This chapter might just prove your comment right :/ Genma1690: Glad you liked the last chapter, I hope you continue to enjoy the story. DepressedSpark: I'm glad you like the story your comment made me smile, I know the chapters are short I'm working on that, I update nearly every day. I'll try to make them a little longer, though I won't promise anything on that. Rose Tiger: Glad you liked it ^.^ narutos vixen: Judging by your comment you might LOVE what's about to happen. Lissibear: There is reasoning behind why I spent so little time in the demon world. Trust me there is reason. I hope you enjoy the story as it progresses.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I prolly wouldn't be so pissed right now. Needless to say I don't own Naruto.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Outside of Migoto.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto stood staring Sakura down, there was a bitter taste in his mouth and right now he thought it might be possible all the ramen in the world wouldn't get rid of it. He could feel his muscles tense, his mouth felt dry. He didn't want to see her right now, she had already proved that she didn't care, she had been proving it for years, and he just didn't want to admit it to himself.

"Naruto, you have some explaining to do" She said bitterly.

"and what exactly do I have to explain."

"Oh I don't know, Let's start with I know that outfit couldn't be cheap, and I know that you don't have the kind of money to pay for it, So I assume you had Hinata buy it for you, And then buy you dinner at this run down hole of a restaurant. I don't appreciate you asking my friends to do you favors."

With the screaming again, Naruto was really getting fed up with her always yelling, yea sure he was loud, but it seemed like all Sakura ever did was scream at him.

"Heh, and let me guess Sakura, you just know everything don't you? There's no way that things aren't always what they seem, there's no possible way I could have money. There's no way That Hinata could have come along only to help me pick the outfit. Which I assure you is the case. She pointed me to what store to buy what I was looking for, I didn't ask her to pay for anything, and I'm the one who treated her to lunch not the other way around, so stop acting like you know everything."

Naruto's voice was cold, bitter even. He was mad, there was no doubt there, his voice sounded outright venomous really.

"Then explain where someone like you got that kind of money, I only know of one place that can make battle clothing like that, and Their prices are really high. So where did you get the money Naruto? I'm just dying to hear."

The statement was sarcastic at the end, she didn't care, Naruto was wondering if she was just looking for conflict.

"I don't need to tell you anything about where the money came from. I don't have to tell you anything about it, It's not your business so just drop it."

"I will not drop it until you tell me where you got the money."

Sakura was still screaming, Naruto could feel something burning inside him in the pit of his stomach, this was too much she had crossed the line too many times, and right now she was pushing too far into something that wasn't any of her concern.

"I told you it's not your business Sakura, now I'm leaving."

Naruto turned to Hinata and spoke in a lot softer voice "Come on Hinata lets go."

"Your not going anywhere till I get my answer."

"And what are you going to do to stop me?"

Sakura paused she hadn't thought about it but she really wanted to know where Naruto could get the money for an outfit like his, she had only seen coats like that in pictures from the text books at the academy. The Yondaime had worn one almost identical the only difference was the colors and maybe the flames were a little different and there was only one Shop in town that could possibly replicate it. If that was where he got the coat it was easily over 1,000 Ryou.

"Don't make me hit you."

Something inside Naruto's head flipped like a switch, that was a step too far, She had hit him one too many times, and he had told himself He wouldn't let her treat him like that anymore, the burning feeling in the pit of his stomach exploded, his whole body was tingling the inside of his mouth felt completely dry like he hadn't had anything to drink in days. He locked eyes with Sakura and for a second she almost looked like she was afraid.

"You'd just fucken love that wouldn't you? I mean it's only been almost a daily occurrence since we joined team 7. To hit me that often you must really fucken love seeing me in pain huh?"

Naruto's whole posture changed he didn't look at all approachable any more in the least. He was standing as if at any second he was going to drop into his Taijutsu stance, his hands were already half way done making the hand seal for Kage bunshin. Sakura almost went to speak but realized that Naruto wasn't nearly done with his speech.

"You treat me like shit and you probably expected I'd always let you, let me guess you don't see anything wrong with it because I grew up dealing with shit like that every day? Guess what it gets really old. Come one Sakura just one more joke at my expense, Because I believed in you, I was so dumb, how could I not have known you would prey on my mistakes, You just love to save up all my mistakes to make me writhe when you please, You like to take my confidence away and make me feel like nothing don't you, Inside you need to cause pain, You know we don't all feel that way."

Hinata was in a state approaching paralysis. Was this really Naruto? She had never seen him so bitter, never heard him speak such venom soaked words to anyone in all the time she had been stalking....I mean all the time she had know him. He was always so accepting of everything that he dealt with every day. She was realizing now that it was all an act to hide it, and now He was hitting his breaking point. She was afraid He might do something stupid.

"Nothing to say for yourself Sakura? No surprise there, maybe if you cared about anything but your damn precious Sasuke you might have learned to act like a damn human being. You might have actually learned what it means to be someones friends, maybe you could have even learned not to take advantage of other peoples emotions for your own gain. Seriously you knew that I was trying so hard to bring Sasuke back because it would make you happy and every time that I tried and didn't bring him back all you did was get angry, you didn't thank me once for trying all you've done is scream at me and to tell you the truth I don't remember what it is that made me like you Sakura, When all you've ever done was act like a total bitch."

"Oh and your so much better Naruto, You try so hard thinking you are so important, but look have you managed to get Sasuke back? No you can't keep your promises why shouldn't I be mad about that."

"The only way that I wouldn't be keeping my promise is if I gave up trying I told you I'd bring him back that was my promise, I never said it would be immediate and I believe I said later that I'd keep trying until I did being him back, and I am still trying. So I've been keeping my word, with little help from you I might add."

"OH I see how it is since you are SO much better than me and all."

"I'm done fighting I'm going."

Naruto turned and started to walk away, Hinata was still in disbelief from what she had just witnessed was that really Naruto?

Sakura was beyond angry she was Irate. She wasn't going to let Naruto walk away after saying such horrible things, calling her a bitch? Who did He think He was?

"Naruto come back here"

He knew that she was coming after him and the spike of chakra told him that she was more than likely preparing to hit him with one of her Tsunade like punches. He stopped dead in his tracks waiting for her, there was no avoiding this one, He wasn't sure how he was going to explain this to Tsunade though she probably wouldn't be as enthusiastic about him standing up for himself if it meant causing a fight.

"Who do you think you are calling me a bitch?"

Naruto jumped as she Sakura screamed and her chakra infused fist drove hard into the ground throwing up a cloud of dust and sending cracks that spread out like snakes from her hand. It sounded like someone had set off a bomb when her hand had hit. The shock wave created a breeze in the dead calm weather.

"Would you have rather had me call you Sasuke's whore?" Naruto retorted.

"Take that back" She screamed as another hit landed just below his feet as he jumped backwards again.

"I'd take it back if it wasn't true." His tone was so harsh you could almost taste the poison in his words.

Sakura stopped in her tracks, tears building in her eyes.

"How could you say something like that?"

The tears were threatening to spill over as she held back a sob.

"Because to me that's the way it's looks, you've never cared about anything except for him, knowing that he didn't feel the same for you, at least even though when you didn't return my feelings I still cared for my friends."

Sakura broke into full tears at this, why was he being so mean, had she really been that bad? Naruto turned and starting walking away again.

"Hinata let's go"

Hinata started walking after him, she wondered though she swore she heard a hint of sadness in his voice just then. Did he really mean all the things that he had just said to Sakura? She thought He was being a little harsh. They walked for a long time in silence. Naruto was the first to speak.

"Hinata I think it's best if I take you home now." His voice was low, he sounded upset.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I need some time alone to think." His answer was almost instantaneous.

They walked in silence until they reached the gates of the Hyuuga estate.

"Hinata, I'm sorry"

"You have nothing to be sorry for"

"You shouldn't have had to witness that earlier."

Hinata looked at him without speaking for a while. Then he spoke again.

"Have a good afternoon Hinata, I'm going to head home."

"Okay Bye Naruto-kun"

She watched as he walked away and went out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*A short time later in Naruto's living room.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"_What am I going to do now?"_ Naruto asked himself. He hadn't hit back at Sakura but the damage done in town from those punches would still cost money to fix. On top of that, He left her there to cry her eyes out, the things He had said even he admitted were a little more than harsh. A strong feeling of regret washed over him. He wrote something into a black book with a leather bound cover, When he finished he placed the book gently back into the bottom right drawer of the desk.

He sat back and let out a sigh, He couldn't face Tsunade after that, or Sakura, or Hinata for that matter, not after she had seen him act like that.

"_She probably hates me and thinks that I'm cold hearted now"_ He thought to himself. He didn't know what he was planning to do but he knew one thing he couldn't imagine that having to face those any of those three right now and he figured by morning all of his friends would hear what he had said. He sat in thought for a long time.

He didn't like what he was thinking but it seemed like the only option now, He had decided he would do what He knew could possibly be the most foolish thing He had ever done in his life. After all He had done for Konoha and how hard He had trained and fought to rescue it from Danzou only days ago He was leaving. He planned out what his first few actions would be once he left, first thing he would gather information and hunt down Orochimaru, He would attempt to talk some sense into Sasuke if he couldn't then he would move on to his next objective, Eliminate what was left of Akatsuki. Even in leaving He had all intention on fighting for Konoha's safety.

He walked to his room, He collected his weapons and everything that He figured he would need. He couldn't take much, when he got there though He realized something He had to get his new outfits, He would have to stop by and ask if they could be rushed so he could leave tonight. It was only mid afternoon, if He hurried He could be gone by nightfall, and He could put a lot of distance between him and Konoha before dawn.

He packed the rest of his weapons. Next stop the vault where he collected what he saw to be a suitable amount of money he knew that it wasn't all that much in reality but he had no intentions on taking anymore than He thought was absolutely necessary. After collecting his money He ran back to the clothing shop Hinata had taken him to earlier, as soon as he passed through the doors He asked his question.

"Is there any way that you can push up my order and have it done more quickly I'll even help if I have to but I need it as soon as possible. Preferably within the next couple of hours at the maximum."

Naruto was a little out of breath from running the entire way and was panting lightly as he caught his breath.

"What seems to be the hurry? Oh never mind I can push them up but I will need help to get them done that fast, it's probably better I don't know why you need them so fast, I've already done a few though so this shouldn't take too terribly long, I'll just need to you do the work with the dye while I fix the flames on the coats, the shirts have already been re-sized to fit like the one you have on."

Naruto followed the man to the back of the shop where He was shown how to dye the coats black, The man told him:

"Dye these coats while I fix the embroidery having you do that while I'm working on the flames means that I don't have to do them at separate times, this way I can start on one coat immediately after another and you can do the same with the dye."

The two of them worked steadily and quickly, the shops owner was really curious why this man who looked so much like Minato was in such a hurry, He couldn't seem to shake the thoughts, though he did manage to push them aside enough to work without asking questions. Naruto was wondering why this man already had these coats that looked identical to the ones his father had in all of his portraits. It was too much of a coincidence than this man just happened to have nearly a dozen of them sitting in the back of his shop.

An hour and a half later they had finished the coats and Naruto thanked the man several times before leaving at much the same pace that he had entered.

"_I really wonder what he needs them for so suddenly. I have a strange feeling about this."_ The shop owner thought to himself.

Naruto quickly made his way home and packed his new outfits into his mission backpack. Now the hard part getting out of Konoha. He continued to think of things He might need and realized that He had forgotten to pack his scrolls. He made his way quickly back to his desk where several sat next to it on the floor in a tidy pile, He quickly shoved them into his pack. The thought then crossed his mind, they would know He was gone almost as soon as he left, and They would likely search his house. He pulled out a piece of paper and quickly wrote a note stating his intentions very clearly. It wouldn't matter if they liked his decision once he had left they wouldn't be able to bring him back if they did it would most likely be straight to an interrogation, the idea of which He wasn't to fond of.

Naruto waited pacing through his living room. He was waiting for the evening to come, and when the first sign of the sun setting came to his attention He grabbed his pack and quickly made his way out of his estate, Only taking enough time to lock the gate after He left then dodged into the shadows of an alley and onto a side street. He made his way slowly toward the North gate. He checked quickly to make sure no one was following him every now and then. It appeared that He had managed to make his way out of his house without the ANBU guards noticing. It was long he was waiting at the corner of an alley near the North gate. He waited patiently for the guards to to finish their shift. When the end of their shift came In a few minutes just as nightfall came, one of them would take the civilian traffic report to Tsunade, and the other would watch the gate. The job was boring, and at this time of day there was never anyone passing by so the guards weren't overly attentive to their job, as long as he was quick He was sure He could find as way by.

He watched patiently as one guard left with the traffic report, the other looked tired, before long the guards stomach growled loud enough that it could be heard from the alley. Naruto cringed hearing the man's stomach growl like that. The guard looked around quickly making sure that no one was coming or going toward the gate and snuck away, no doubt He was going to get food at the Dango shop no more than a couple dozen feet away. Naruto thought to himself:

"_This couldn't have possibly worked out better for me I guess choosing this gate was a good idea after all."_

He waited until the guard was safely away from his post and bolted through the gate and quickly made his way off of the main road and into the woods.

Naruto hadn't noticed there was someone watching him from one of the rooftops near the gate. The onlooker didn't follow Naruto however.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Moments later in Tsunade's office.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tsunade-sama, I have bad news."

"Oh?" Tsunade didn't sound pleased at the idea of bad news. Why was it always bad news? Why couldn't it be good news?

"Naruto has Just left Konoha through the North gate."

"I see why didn't you follow him Kakashi?"

"My mission was to guard his estate, Following him outside of Konoha without notifying you would go outside of my mission. As well as make me a missing Ninja because I was not instructed to leave."

"I see your concerns. Collect a team of tracker-nin of your choice, find and capture Naruto. I'll send a team to his estate, There has to be some reason why he left."

"Yes Tsunade-sama" Kakashi disappeared in his cloud of smoke.

Kakashi felt reached into his vest and pulled out his ANBU mask. This was going to be a long night. He placed the mask over his face and went to collect a team of his choice. At the same time Tsunade called a team of ninja to her office to gather information from his estate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*A short time later outside of Konoha*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto felt four very distinct chakras not too far behind him, He hadn't expected they would be looking for him this soon, it didn't seem to matter how fast He moved they seemed to keep gaining on him He didn't have a plan to get away, He had planned his trip but He had not anticipated them catching on that He had left so quickly.

"Kyuubi."

"Yes Kit?"

"I seem to have a small problem."

"Tracker nin are a big problem Kit."

"Okay then I have a big problem. What should I do I can't get caught. I can't go back."

"Did you think to bring one of the scrolls that will take you to my world?"

Naruto felt so stupid right now, He had brought them along, but He had never though to use one of them to escape the trackers that were following him. He quickly pulled out a scroll and bit into his thumb enough to draw blood. He ran his blood covered thumb across the scroll jumping down to ground level He slammed him palm flat into the scroll pinning it to the ground and focused his chakra into the seal on the scroll. There was a flash of light and smoke, when the smoke cleared Naruto was no where to be found.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Kakashi's tracking team*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Damn I lost his trail" Kakashi said to his team.

They followed in the direction they had last felt his chakra. Moments later one of the men landed on the ground shortly followed by a large white dog.

"His scent ends here, it's as if he disappeared." Kiba's voice was low and gritty, He had hoped that He would never get a mission like this where he was chasing a good friend.

"My bugs don't sense him either." Shino was...well Shino. Impassive.

"I can't find him with my Byakugan either."

Hinata was speaking in barely a whisper. Why had He left? She was holding back the tears she could feel pooling in her eyes. She wondered if it was because of the fight earlier though she didn't want to mention that to the others. He had seemed so sad after him and Sakura had fought. She was almost sure that was the reason the more she thought about it the more she believed it to be true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Namikaze Mansion*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Have any of you found anything?" Tsunade asked the team of ninja she had brought with her.

"Nothing yet Tsunade-Sama"

Shizune called from somewhere among the many rooms of the mansion. Tsunade walked over to The desk in the living room and sat in Naruto's seat. She put her head down on the desk. He was almost like a little brother to her, and she couldn't figure out for the life of her why someone who cared so much for Konoha, and had fought so hard for it, would leave without a word to anyone. When she lifted her head she noticed the note he had left, her arm was laying across it. She lifted the note and read.

"_I'm sorry, I can't stay in Konoha, I don't deserve to be here, I don't want you to worry though. I might come back someday if I can bring myself to face any of you. For now I plan to find Orochimaru, When I've made sure He is no longer a threat to Konoha I'll continue to hunt the Akatsuki one by one, I'll still be fighting for the safety of the place I love. To all my friends I hope that you can someday forgive me for everything. Oh and Tsunade, don't bother sending anyone to follow, most likely by the time you realize I've left, I'll have covered too much ground for anyone to catch up_

_-Naruto Namikaze"_

Tsunade's eyes widened. What possibly could have happened that would make him feel like He didn't deserve to be in Konoha? She would have to find out every detail of his day. The first place she would need to ask is Hinata, Tsunade knew that she had spent most of her day with Naruto.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Tsunade's office a very short time later*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The entire rookie nine with the exception of Naruto had been gathered in Tsunade's office. She knew that only one of them had been told His actual identity. That was Hinata. The only ones among them knew he had left was team 8 and that was only because Kakashi had picked them to help try to track Naruto down.

"I need all of you to pay attention and before I tell you why you are here, I have to tell you that some of things you are going to learn right now are S-class secrets, None of you are to speak of anything I say or you learn right now you got that?"

"Yes Hokage-Sama." They all answered in Unison.

"Today one of your comrades had left Konoha without notice. He has left without my permission, and evidence found in his home tells us that he might not be coming back. Though you all have a right to know a few things, This was the note that was found in Naruto's home"

Tsunade sat the note on her desk so that to her it was upside down but to the remaining members of the rookie nine it was currently the right way.

"Naruto left?"

Sakura was the first to speak. She felt guilty a bit, her mind raced to the memory of that afternoon and their argument. Could if have been her fault that Naruto had left? She was also the first to step forward to read the note that he had left, she felt pangs of guilt run through her as she read. However when she got to the bottom her guilt turned into pure shock...

"N-N-Namikaze? As in ~?"

"Yes Sakura, That was one of the S-class secrets that I had mentioned. Naruto is the son of the Yondaime, Minato Namikaze."

"Are you serious?" She asked in a yell more of shock than anything.

The rest of them except for Hinata stood stunned. Naruto was the son of a legend? Why was that such a well kept secret?

"Only one person in this room other than myself knew this before now, and the person eavesdropping on the ledge below my window also knew. Are you gonna come in or not Kakashi?"

Kakashi entered the room through the window feat first, making quite the dynamic entrance.

"Tsunade-Sama" He gave a small bow then stepped over into the line with the rest of them.

"Now as I was saying, the only other person in here other than myself and Kakashi that knew was Hinata. He had seen fit to tell her after she had tracked him down the other day after he had gotten into an argument with Sakura."

At the mention of her name Sakura's eyes went to the floor, which suddenly seemed very interesting to her. She let her head hang in shame because inside she knew that it was at least partially her fault that he had left Konoha. The argument they had gotten into was terrible and she figure reading the note that he felt guilty for the things he had said and left to do his own thing.

"Also team 8 was sent after him when he had left and He vanished without a trace while they were only a little ways behind him. I have a suspicion of how He disappeared from them."

"How could he Vanish like that?"

"After his first try to take Konoha back He found a way to enter the Demon realm to train, the time moves differently there, He was training there for 1 year, which on our plain is 3 weeks. That's where he was during that time he was missing, and I have a belief he might have gone back. The fact that he went there in the first place is again, an S-rank secret."

"but...how is that possible?"

Tsunade looked at Ino who had asked the question.

"I honestly don't know how to pass between the two worlds myself, there was only one other person that I know of that has ever passed into that dimension"

"Do you think whoever it was could have showed Naruto" Kiba asked

Tsunade looked over to him "That would be impossible unless Minato was somehow back from the dead. The only other person to pass into that realm was his father, and now he had passed into that world as well, at least once, and I suspect that when he couldn't outrun the tracking team that He might have gone back, knowing that they would be unable to follow. Minato was a seal expert. The He once told me the way in was a seal that He didn't intend on ever passing on and never recorded how to make. The fact that Naruto can pass into their world is shocking even to me"

Tsunade's explanation by the look of things left everyone with their jaw hanging, Naruto had managed a feat that only one person before him had done and that person had been a legendary Shinobi that had specialized in seals.

"So what do we do now Tsunade?"

"There is nothing you can do the only reason I called you here was to tell you that your comrade had left us. We can't follow where He is going and he could stay in their world for a long time, or even if he comes back to our world, He might come back somewhere other than where He vanished, somewhere outside of reach."

Tsunade's voice was heavy it wasn't a secret to those in the room she saw Naruto as family and the tone of her voice reflected the pain of the loss. Hinata stood silent in the corner wrestling with her own emotions. All of the other stood in place not knowing what to think. Kakashi was cursing himself for not trying to stop Naruto while He had the chance. Sakura was beating herself up for being so Harsh with him all those years and the guilt of knowing that he might have left because of her was a heavy weight to carry.

~~~~~~~~~*The Demon realm*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto appeared in a small cloud of smoke. "Kyuubi what way is it to your village?"

"South, oh and Kit."

Kyuubi swirled out from the seal and took his physical form.

"It may have gotten nicer in there since you let me change the decorations but it's still not as nice as being able to walk freely."

Naruto nodded his acknowledgment "I understand Kyuubi, I can't imagine what it must be like being locked inside someone elses mind all the time"

"Yes not pleasant at all, Now there is something I didn't explain last time we were here Kit. When you went back last time I made you go back to the same spot you had entered our world. Therefore you were transferred back to your world in the exact spot you left. If however you travel somewhere in our world, and go back from there you will come out in another place in your world. For instance My village Is Directly parallel to Konoha, if you were to return from my someplace in my village you would end up returning inside of Konoha."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because Kit, if you were to come here and travel somewhere then return and come out at your destination, you could cover impossible distances in less than a day of your worlds time."

It finally clicked in Naruto's head. "So your saying I could be out of reach of The Konoha Ninja in less than a day to them?"

"that's exactly what I'm saying Kit, but first since we are here, we might as well train some more, wouldn't you agree?" Kyuubi grinned and Naruto's lips curled to match.

"Of course why not since we are already here and everything."

The two of them turned toward each other and stared each other down both waiting for the slightest movement there eyes locked on each other like those of a hawk, they would notice anything from the slightest twitch, they both waited for the other to make their move, after several seconds:

"Well Kit since you aren't gonna move I'll start this"

As soon as He finished speaking Kyuubi charged to Naruto and Naruto broke into a run toward Kyuubi as well. They closed the gap quickly, Naruto ducked under Kyuubi's fist but before he could use the opening Kyuubi used the momentum he has put into the punch to rotate his body and Kick Naruto square in the jaw. Naruto crashed backwards through several trees finally coming to rest at the trunk of one. It took a minute before he stood back up.

"I didn't see that coming, you're gonna pay for that you know."

A fierce grin crawled across Narutos face as he started a series of complex hand seals and blinding speeds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*TO BE CONTINUED*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Who saw that coming? Honestly? Who does that? Speaking of who does that....who stops their chapter in the middle of a fight? Yes I do, I wanted a cliffhanger. And Lissibear, This is why I didn't spend much detail in the demon world before, I was more setting up for this trip than anything. To those of you who are worried about the romance portion don't worry I do have a plan, and you'll see it before too long, Anyways, Please let me know what you think, reviews are my happy place. They make me smile.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: This chapter was written quickly I'll likely go back and improve it later but for now I'd like to get it up.

Thank you to all of you that reviewed, I'm glad you all still are following.

Disclaimer...same as always, I don't own Naruto.

Naruto grinned as he started making a series of hand seals at blinding speeds, Kyuubi wasn't sure what exactly Naruto was planning but judging by the looks of the grin on his face this wasn't going to be pleasant if he managed to finish that series of seals.

Kyuubi broke into action headlong running toward Naruto. Kyuubi jumped into a forward flip bringing his foot down Towards Naruto's head, The loud crash of the impact made Kyuubi wonder if maybe he had gone a little hard on that kick when Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "_Damn him and his Kage Bunshin"_ Kyuubi thought to himself.

Naruto Yelled from behind him "Nice try Kyuubi"

Kyuubi turned to face him at the same time Naruto finished the seal of handsigns the clone had been making as well "Wind Release: Crushing storm"

Heavy black clouds came seemingly out of no where, Violent winds pushed almost straight down crashing into Kyuubi knocking him off his feet. The wind was crushing him time slowed down to him, what seemed like and eternity had passed when the gale force winds finally stopped, before he could get up though he heard another yell "Resengan"

The blue orb was pushed into Kyuubi's chest crushing him into the ground even harder. The earth cracked under the weight of the attack fissures formed in all directions from underneath Kyuubi, The earth continued to break away until the ground beneath him finally collapsed creating a crater where his body now lay. After what seemed like forever Kyuubi finally stood up.

"Not bad Kit, right now I'm glad I'm immortal."

"I've wanted to try that new wind jutsu for a while now but wanted to test in a spar before I tried it in a real life or death fight." Naruto stated in a proud tone.

"It's a brutal one kit."

Kyuubi looked at the sky to see nothing but clear blue for miles, Those clouds had vanished almost as quickly as they had come. He looked in wonder, he was in Naruto's damn mind all the time, how did he not know about that jutsu?

"Kit, I've got something I want you to work on. I can't help you with this though, I'm not sure how it's done. This technique has only ever been used by one person prior to you. There is a weapon that you grabbed from the vault, actually you grabbed three of them that are rather unique kit, and since you have them with you, You should try to master your fathers technique. He was called the yellow flash because of his body flicker he could cover almost infinite distances using it and he could cover the distance in the blink of an eye."

"What weapons did I grab that are so special?"

"Those three large shuriken you grabbed. Those were your fathers, If he left one somewhere he could body flicker to it instantly. I want you to try to master his technique."

"You said you have no idea how it works?"

"No I don't if I were you I'd try reading through his jutsu scrolls for it."

"I didn't bring any of them with me though."

"That's not a problem, remember if you are in the exact parallel to your mansion and go back to your world, you will end up inside your mansion. Oddly enough the parallel to your vault is in a back alley. Follow me Naruto."

The ran through the gates of Kyuubi's village, the guards watched him run through almost stunned seeing him back so far he told them it would likely be several years before he was back and it hadn't even been one. What had happened?

The two took turns through the alleys until Kyuubi stopped The location they were in was in the middle of a cluster of buildings You couldn't see the streets from where they stood. Either direction intersected another alley.

"Naruto, This will bring you into your vault, Grab the jutsu scrolls and bring them back with you, this could be the most valuable training of your life Kit."

"Okay Kyuubi I'll be back as quick as I can."

"You better I don't really want to have to be trapped in that cramped cell too long"

"I know, Let's do this"

Naruto pulled out a scroll and bit one of his thumbs running blood across the scroll. Forcing his chakra into the seal as the scroll hit the ground Naruto was warped into Konoha. Kyuubi was right this was his vault. Naruto looked around, there were weapons, and scrolls everywhere, this was going to be one hell of a search trying to pick the most useful ones out of this mess. Then Naruto realized something.

"_Why the hell is my vault door open?"_

He stared at the door wondering who had been in here, It had to have been Tsunade, she was the only other person that could get into the vault. The Hokage had access to pretty much anything she wanted.

"_But if she left the vault opens that means.....Oh shit."_

He thought as he realized that it most likely meant that she was still nearby or at least one of her teams of well trusted Shinobi was still in the residence looking for clues to where he might have planned on going. This wasn't a good thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*elsewhere in the mansion*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did you all hear that?" Kakashi asked quietly

Team 8 was with him looking for things the others might have missed in searching, Hinata had the best eyes one could ask for, between Kiba and Kakashi the two best noses in the entire village were there. Shino of course could easily have his bugs search places where they might not be able to easily get to. They could crawl through cracks and some secret passages that they couldn't manage to find the entrance to.

They all nodded to Kakashi's question. Hinata made a single hand seal in front of her and activated her Byakugan without a word. They hadn't heard anything since the initial sound, it almost sounded like the sound Kakashi made when he arrived anywhere. Though it was distant and faint they all thought they heard it but couldn't tell where it came from.

Hinata focused her chakra harder to see clearer with her Byakugan. She scanned over the house. The kitchen? No. The living room? No. The bedrooms? No. The vault? There is was she knew she was only one that could see there was someone down there and the chakra was one she recognized easily, Naruto.

"Do you see anything Hinata?"

"No."

She hoped they wouldn't catch that it was a bluff they were all about to split off to search different areas for clues when they heard the noise.

"I'll take the area over there" Hinata pointed toward the 3 rooms that included the one that entered the vault."

"Okay Hinata you check over there, I'll go look in the bedrooms, Shino you have your bugs search for any hidden passages, and Kiba you take the kitchen and living room everyone got it?"

"Hai" they answered in unison.

Hinata walked towards the vault, She had questions for him and she knew that this may be her only chance. Though she did ask herself briefly how he had managed to get back into the mansion without being noticed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Inside the vault*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto was collecting scrolls like tomorrow might never come, He had filled his pack almost to the point of bursting and had found a leather strap and slung a huge scroll over his back. Much in the same fashion that Jiraiya wore his. The strap crossing his chest diagonally. He kept glancing at the door making sure that no one was coming, at the first sign that someone might catch him He was prepared to pull another scroll out and make his disappearance.

He searched the vault further for things that he could use to train in the Demon realm, thanks to their time difference he had all kinds of time to train and could still make a blistering pace for anyone that wanted to beat him to where ever he chose to appear. After searching through dozens of scrolls He found a massive leather bound book under one of the piles, the cover had the Namikaze clan seal on it, He opened it midway through the book and realized it was book of various jutsu his father had mastered. This might prove useful He though as he pushed it into his pack, Not realizing while he was scanning those couple pages someone had made there way into the door of the vault.

"Naruto-kun" Hinata addressed him barely above a whisper.

"Hinata?" He asked as he reached for the scroll containing his passage to the Demon realm.

"Please don't go Naruto-kun, at least let me ask you something before you do"

her voice was almost broken. She was overwhelmed getting to see Naruto again. At the same time though she was sad knowing that He would leave again soon.

"Quick before someone else notices that I'm even here, I didn't want anyone to know I had come back"

"I know I wanted to ask you a lot of things Naruto-kun, but I know you don't want to be caught here so I'll try to make this quick. Why did you leave?"

Naruto didn't know how to answer at first but he had some help in deciding what to tell her.

"_Just tell her kit, Tell her that The fighting with Sakura broke you, that you can't take the guilt of being so harsh to one of your own comrades"_ Kyuubi advised him through their mental link.

"I left because I hurt one of my comrades, I shouldn't have been that hard on her, it wasn't right Hinata, I just, I don't know what came over me. I felt like I was going to explode listening to her criticism but in the end she is still my comrade. I don't deserve to be called a comrade to anyone if I can't even protect them from myself."

His voice was heavy with guilt. Hinata wanted to tell him that no one would be mad about what he did and that he didn't have to leave again. Though she knew that he was stubborn and had made up his mind and with Naruto once his mind was set he didn't look back.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"I don't know, I might come back in time but right now I just can't face anyone here, Not after what I did...shit. I gotta go Hinata. I'm sorry I can't talk to you longer, but I can't risk being caught."

He pulled out his scroll and bit his thumb again, the healing property he inherited from Kyuubi had already erased the cut from his trip into the vault, he prepared the scroll and sat it on the ground. He pushed his palm to the scroll and brought his eyes up to Hinata's, his once bright blue eyes looked dull now, his face once so carefree looked heavily burdened and guilt ridden.

"Goodbye Hinata-chan."

Hinata was in a state of inner conflict what was she supposed to say to him, she might never see him again, she decided quickly that this might be the last chance she ever got to tell Naruto how she felt though she was having trouble getting her mouth to form the words, felt his chakra level start to rise, her mind finally co-operated with her just as he started pushing his chakra into the seal.

"Naruto-kun, I love you"

As soon as she had finished speaking He had disappeared, it was so close she didn't know If he even heard the last part or if he had disappeared before she had finished, though she prayed that he had heard.

Kakashi felt the Spike of Naruto's Chakra and sprinted to the vault but He was too late, by the time he got to the vault there was only Hinata, tears building in he eyes, He knew immediately what had just happened, Naruto had been there, they had talked, and he had left her, again.

Kakashi felt bad for the poor girl. She loved Naruto from the bottom of her heart, the only one that didn't know about it was of course the blond Knucklehead. Naruto was dense like that. He hadn't noticed just how much Hinata was there for him, Everyone but him knew that she would have done anything for him, anything he asked she would have done to have him as her own. Kakashi knew the feeling of losing the ones you loved, He knew the feeling better than most, the feeling of loneliness the feeling of being abandoned. He knew what she was going through, that wasn't going to make this any easier though and he knew that.

"Hinata, are you alright?" He asked the concern showing in his voice.

"I'll be fine"

This was anything but the truth and she knew, and she kind of figured that He knew as well, Kakashi was anything but stupid, he had showed up so soon after Naruto had left, He had to have felt his presence as he had activated that scroll. Meaning he knew that she had seen him here and that they had likely spoken.

"Kakashi, Could you please leave this out of the report?"

Kakashi knew what she was asking, she didn't want anyone to know she had seen Naruto and hadn't managed to convince him not to leave or detained him. She didn't want them to know the pain she was going through right now.

"Yeah, I will keep this between us."

They walked away from the vault, Hinata was trying to regain her composure before they met with the other two. They passed through the rooms. To Hinata the world had stopped time was no longer moving forward, it was turned into a countdown. T-minus her life and counting, Praying that sometime during that time she might get to see Naruto again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Back alleys of Kyuubi's village*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto appeared in a cloud of smoke, His jaw was still slacked from what he had just heard did she really just say she loved him? Did she love him? His mind raced. He didn't know what to think, that was the first time a girl had ever said they loved him. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel. His emotions went unchecked for a good amount of time. Kyuubi materialized nearby. He didn't know if he should speak, even in his thousands of years of experience this was one situation he didn't know how to handle, Naruto's emotional balance was already unstable from leaving and now possibly more so than ever.

Naruto questioned if he should go back, but if he went back he's almost surely be caught that wasn't an option again, He finally got himself in check and his decision stood firm that he wasn't going back until he had finished what he intended to do, weather or not he would ever make it back was a question all in itself but his first line of business was to train, Then show that snakelike bastard the road to hell. Then he would decide what his plans were from there, this was going to be a long journey though in reality to the Human world it wouldn't be nearly as long.

"Kyuubi, is there any way that I can get news and information from the Human world without having to go back?" Naruto asked.

"Not really kit, Most of the creatures here are summons or demons and can not cross that barrier without help. So you are on your own."

"I see well I have an idea I still remember some of the contacts of Jiraiya's spy network. If I visit them I might be able to collect some information on the whereabouts of Orochimaru, or the Akatsuki."

"Kit you must be crazy, the second you leave the will send word to Jiraiya that you spoke to them."

"Does that matter if I'm back here within minutes?" Naruto asked with a huge grin on his face.

"Jiraiya can't travel as fast as I can. By the time He gets to where I was sighted I could be half a world away." Naruto's grin was the widest it had been in a long time, Maybe this would be easier than he thought.

"Now let's get to the research Kyuubi, actually, You go to the tower and let everyone know your here and I know you want some alone time with your."

Naruto held up his pinky finger to say with his significant other. Kyuubi just nodded and walked slowly toward the street, while Naruto walked the other direction before Kyuubi was out of earshot Naruto called to him

"I'll be staying in the same hotel that I did last time I was here, so you can find me if you need to."

Naruto made good time covering the 2 blocks to the place he had stayed during his 3 week disappearance last time. He booked a room and paid up front. He left for his room quickly eager to see what these scrolls might contain for him.

Once inside his room Naruto locked the door behind him, this place was a little run down, the paint was peeled and chipped on the walls and the room had a stale smell to it, It reminded him of his apartment back in Konoha. This place was almost Nostalgic to him. He wondered which scroll to break out first, Then the thought struck him, that huge book that he had found buried in the back of the vault.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*TO BE CONTINUED*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hmmm I wonder what kind of things await Naruto in that book. I wonder what he will do about Hinata's confession, and I wonder what he is going to do with his time here in the demon world. Well Let me know what you think.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I messed up in the last chapter I termed Minato's tri-kunai as shuriken which is incorrect, I thank my reviewers for pointing this out, I'll go back and correct it later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Naruto's room at the inn*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto flipped through the large book of jutsu that his father had mastered, No wonder his father was called a legend, He knew thousands of jutsu and he didn't have help of something like the Sharingan like the Uchiha did, He had mastered all of these through will power and hard work. He kept looking through the different book, there were jutsu from all 5 elements, His father had mastered all 5? Kakashi had told him that no one he knew of could do that.

Naruto kept looking, a lot of the jutsu were seals, from gravity seals to the one that held the Kyuubi inside of him. Then he found it, His fathers body flicker, He read over the description, He kept getting lost in how to do it, This was going to take forever.

Naruto Got up re-sealing the large tome and placing it back in his backpack, once he was sure his pack was secured he left for the training grounds, Naruto had never been one to study things long, He was never good at figuring things out through study he was more the type to try it in action to figure it out. He'd get it through trial and error much like everything else that he did.

The walk to the training grounds passed quickly though he was going alone, Kyuubi wasn't needed for this, He might be wise from his years, but Naruto wanted to figure this out by himself. When he got to the training grounds he tossed one of the tri-kunai down by his feet and threw the other one a good distance away and proceeded to focus his chakra, Several failed attempts later his determination had not faltered for a second.

Kyuubi did wander out to Naruto's location, He didn't come to help Naruto train but to bring him ramen, He knew how Naruto was, He was determined to do whatever it is he was to set his mind to, and this was something He knew Naruto would want to do alone, this was Naruto trying to prove to himself that He had the skill his father did, or if not the skill at least he had the determination to make up for it, Kyuubi didn't know how long it would take the boy, though he wagered it might be a while, He had stood with the ramen at the edge of the training field for a good time not speaking just watching. Naruto couldn't figure out why he couldn't manage to make this work.

"Naruto, I brought dinner."

"Thanks Kyuubi"

Naruto ran to the edge of the field He could move pretty fast anyways, but this was something he had to figure out. He sat down with Kyuubi for dinner. The whole time he was pondering what his father had wrote in the tome about this jutsu, Then a thought struck him.

"Kyuubi, if someone was to come to this world and summon you, would it bring you to their location?"

Kyuubi sat in thought for a long moment "Yes I think it would anyways, It's not something I can say for sure because it's never happened."

Naruto thought again and reached for his backpack pulling out a scroll full of seal. He found the section he was looking for on summoning techniques, Scanning the seals carefully he finally realized something. The seals that were on the tri-Kunai of his fathers, they were a combination of two summoning techniques. It clicked in Naruto's mind just how this worked, He wasn't trying to move to the Kunai, he was trying to summon himself. That's why he couldn't do it, he had been trying to will His chakra to move him to the Kunai Not to activate the seal on the tri-kunai and summon himself.

Naruto got up leaving his ramen only half finished, He was still hungry but he had to test his theory. He could eat after he had tried this. Naruto walked to where the one Kunai was stuck in the ground, He focused his chakra and pictured the seal on the Kunai that he had thrown. The seal didn't activate Naruto was left standing where he had been when he started....damn it was worth a shot then another thought hit him, He tried something different, He picked up the second kunai and examined the seal again before putting it back down, He concentrated again, this time the seals activated, Naruto felt strange, almost as if he was being ripped out of reality torn from his body, Space seemed to ripple, before he even knew what was happening He was standing across the field by the Kunai he had thrown.

Kyuubi had been watching, his jaw had dropped when Naruto had vanished and appeared by the other Kunai, Had he done it? So quickly? Was it possible to figure out that jutsu that quickly? Naruto was once again proving that with time even though he wasn't losing the wild spirit of his mother he was developing his fathers genius. This was going to be interesting soon.

Naruto was ecstatic, Instead of walking back to the other Kunai he picked up the one at his feet and secured it in his weapon pouch then Activated the seals again, The feeling of being ripped through time and space overwhelmed him again, He couldn't begin to describe what it felt like. Though he knew the feeling of being someplace completely different from where he had previously been was neat.

Naruto walked back over to the side of the Field he could barely contain his excitement "Kyuubi did you see that?"

Naruto was worked up and yelling excitedly.

"Yes I saw it Kit and honestly I'm impressed."

Naruto's mind was snapped out of the shadow of his achievement when He remembered what had happened when he had went to Konoha. More specifically three words that Hinata had said as he had vanished off that plain of existence. Naruto had over the year he had spent here figured out the time difference. He had sat up an entire night figuring out exactly how much time passed here in comparison to his world. It took him many tries to figure it out, he was terrible at math, but he had figured out that one day here was an hour and 25 minutes roughly on His plain. That had taken him an entire night to figure out. He sat and debated going back though he knew it was too soon, he doubted they had even finished searching the mansion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Back in Konoha in Narutos Mansion*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Team 8 was still searching with Kakashi at Naruto's estate they hadn't found anything of interest. They wandered into the living room for another scan over it. Hinata activated her Byakugan She searched for well hidden objects, She hadn't seen anything unusual until she noticed his desk the bottom drawer had several large tomes in it, she didn't know what they were, but they were big, and Naruto wasn't the type to study.

Hinata made her way to the desk and searched for traps, The desk itself was fairly simple, It wasn't anything too intricate, it was just a normal oak work desk. She opened the large drawer to expose several large leather bound books, They didn't say anything on the cover they were just blank leather.

She pulled out the one on top carefully, The two other members of her team hadn't taken note of what she was doing though Kakashi's ever watchful eyes had noticed. He didn't say anything he just watched what her pull the large book out and open it a few pages.

Her eyes scanned the paged of the book she realized quickly what this was, This was Naruto's Journal, There were several other volumes he had been keeping a record of his days for a long time now it appeared. She searched the desk and found the oldest volume of the set of books and flipped to the first entry, it was the day he had started the academy. She read about his excitement that he was going to be a Ninja, his enthusiasm. Then his pain. The torment the other kids gave him from day one. As soon as he had showed up he had gotten beaten. She was curious about what these volumes contained, she knew that she shouldn't read them. Then she realized if the others found them they would read them and turn them over to Tsunade as evidence to why he may have left, they would all know about his most personal secrets.

Hinata glanced around the room and pushed the large books into her Pack, they made it almost overfull But she couldn't risk the others finding these then Naruto's whole life would be publicly known.

Kakashi watched as she packed the books away, He still didn't say anything to her. He had figured out what they were when she had started reading and her eyes had widened. He wouldn't bother her right now, He knew exactly what she was doing and He couldn't say as he blamed her for what she was doing right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Minutes later*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay guys we aren't gonna find anything I don't think let's go" Kakashi addressed team 8.

"Are you sure Kakashi?"

"Yeah, we haven't found anything yet. We have been searching for a long time, I doubt we are gonna find anything."

Kakashi turned at walked toward the door, The others talked among themselves about his sudden decision to end the search of Naruto's belongings, He had to know something that they didn't. Hinata however had this sinking feeling that Kakashi knew that she had found something and hadn't told them.

"Let's go make our report to Tsunade"

They took their time getting back to The Hokage's tower, They figured it might be a long while before they actually saw or heard anything about Naruto. They walked at a slow pace, They were all upset that Naruto had left, of course the hardest hit were Hinata, and Kakashi, Hinata because of her love for the blond and now she didn't know if she would ever get to see him again. Kakashi felt guilty because he had let Naruto leave, Kakashi wasn't one to get into other peoples affairs often he usually let them do what they pleased unless their life was on the line because of their actions. Naruto's life wasn't likely to be at risk just yet. His future on the other hand might well be, He was a missing Nin, What future could he have in Konoha, would they forgive him for leaving? Kakashi doubted that the council would see it that way. They would brand him a traitor and He wouldn't be able to be a ninja if he came back, at least that's how it seemed to Kakashi.

They walked leisurely into Tsunade's office.

"Did you find anything?"

"No."

Kakashi's tone was heavy she could tell he felt guilty, though it was subtle enough that she didn't know as anyone else in the room had noticed.

"I see."

Tsunade let out a heavy sigh before she spoke again only to dismiss them.

"Okay everyone you can go home, get some rest."

"Yes Tsunade-sama"

Kakashi spoke though before any of them could leave the room.

"Hinata I'm going to need to have a word with you though, I would ask that we go somewhere that we can talk."

She was afraid. Fear clawed at her insides, was he going to bust her for not telling anyone that she found anything. She was curious about what he might want and terrified it might be a reprimand for her actions, she had realized he was perceptive enough he had probably noticed everything that had gone on in the mansion she wouldn't have doubted that he knew when Naruto showed up that it had been him entering that they heard.

"Hai"

The other dismissed themselves, Kakashi and Hinata walked a different direction from the rest. Kiba was uneasy, why did Kakashi want to speak with Hinata and not them? Something seemed off.

"Does something seem off to you.?"

Kiba's question was met with silence from Shino for a while then the response came.

"Hinata was far more attached to Naruto than any of the rest of us, he is probably making sure she is alright. It's what comrades do."

Shino knew this was a lie, While he didn't know about Naruto actually be present for part of their search he HAD noticed her take those books, His bugs knew what went on better than most people, thanks to them he had eyes everywhere. Though he didn't want the other to realize that Hinata had taken something that might have contained some kind of insight, He didn't want to get his comrade in trouble, he would talk to her later to make sure she was alright.

Kakashi lead them away from the busier parts of town to a training field, He did a chakra sweep of the area to make sure that they were in fact alone before he ever spoke.

"I know that it hurts that he's gone. I also know you found his journals, I'm not going to say anything, I just have one request, If you find anything that might prove useful to finding him in there let me know."

"So you did know..."

"Yea, I hope you do find something though"

Hinata sensed something in Kakashi's normally solid voice. Was he upset?

"Kakashi, are you alright? I know Naruto was your student, but it's not your fault that he's gone."

"Actually Hinata, it is my fault, I knew he was leaving as soon as he stepped out of his house and headed toward the gates, but I couldn't bring myself to interfere."

"How could you know there was only one Shinobi there aside from Naruto that dog ANBU.."

Then it clicked in her mind. "Was that you Kakashi?"

He nodded before giving his answer

"yes I was assigned to look after him until everything was settled with his estate, and not just watch his home I was nearby at all times in case something went wrong. Minato had a lot of enemies he had made over the years, and I was assigned to make sure none of them showed up until Naruto had gotten himself better settled and trained more. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I was even there at your dinner, yes I was in that painting, However you didn't notice that there was a shadow in front of it. That's one of the reasons when I made the reservation for Naruto I picked that booth."

"You....you saw that?"

Kakashi let out a heavy sigh "Yeah. I wasn't spying so much but it was my mission to keep an eye on him. The artwork there is so life like that I easily blended in with the painting of my old team."

Kakashi let his head hand almost in shame but Hinata knew better, she realized that it was pain as He was remembering his old team. She was perceptive too, she knew that this whole ordeal was bothering him as much as it was her. She knew that Kakashi had taken to Naruto, She realized that they had become almost like family over the years.

"Kakashi."

"You can go home Hinata, and I'll be fine."

They parted ways in silence the walked in opposite directions away from the training field, Hinata made her way home, her family wasn't pleased that she had taken this mission, Her father was even more displeased when he heard they had found nothing. Though he didn't say much.

Once she got back to her room she opened her bag and pulled out the oldest of the volumes, she knew she shouldn't be doing this, she wanted to look so badly, but it was his personal writings, she had no right, but she wanted to know so much more about him. This was wrong though she knew that. Why did her ethical side always get the better of her? It's a good question. This night it didn't though as she opened the book to the first entries, She started to read as she flipped the pages her stomach pulled knots, she wanted to puke. Some of the events were terrible.

"Why does everyone hate me? I didn't do anything, Today they threw rocks at me again, a few of them knocked me down and wouldn't stop kicking me, I was coughing up blood most of the afternoon, why is it so hard to get blood out of clothing."

as she kept reading there were so many accounts of kids terrorizing him, beating him with sticks, civilians beating him nearly to death.

She saw all the names they had called him.

"Why do they keep calling me a demon? I don't understand. What's wrong with me?"

As she kept reading the entries kept getting darker some of them were morbid even.

"I got driven out of another store today, they beat me with the broom, some other customers hit me too before they dragged me by my hair and threw me into the street. Why won't any of them let me buy anything from them, if my money less valuable than everyone elses? I wish they would all just disappear, at least then even though i'm still alone I wouldn't be in pain."

her stomach kept pulling knots as she realized that the real reason he had loved Ichiraku ramen so much was because when he was younger they were the only people in town that would actually serve him a meal. She couldn't believe some of the cruelty that he had been through she had witnessed a lot through her stalking. She shook her head as she realized she had accused herself of stalking him then corrected the thought, she had witnessed a lot from admiring him.

She pushed herself to keep reading, it didn't lighten up until the night he had stolen the forbidden scroll and Iruka had saved him from Mizuki. She read about the forming of team 7, She wanted to cry even more when she read the entries that involved Sakura He honestly had loved her He had forgiven every time she had hit him and told himself that he would try again to get her to notice him every time she hit him, He had written that he would do better for her next time. He had written that he didn't deserve to be alive when he had hurt her when The Kyuubi had made it to it's 4 tailed state on the mission with Yamato.

She continued to read some of the entries almost seemed as if Naruto was far more broken inside than he ever let on, especially nearing the end, She read his account of the first yelling match with Sakura only days ago now, They hinted that he was about to break, he had written that he couldn't take it, that he hated himself for treating a friend that badly, even if she did deserve it. She read the last entry, it covered the day that they had gone shopping it was happy, he had actually enjoyed himself, well until the fight with Sakura after the lunch. When she read the next line her theory on why he left was proven.

"_I got into another fight with Sakura today, I can't believe I said those things, She deserves better than that, I even said them in front of other people, they didn't deserve to have to hear that either, They probably hate me now, Hinata seemed afraid of me afterwords, Does she think I'm a monster now like everyone else does? I can't face Sakura after that, or Tsunade. Starting a fight with a friend in public? __What was I thinking, I can't take this, I've got to leave I've got to go somewhere, I can't stay here anymore, I've hurt everyone I've cared about, I can't live with them knowing that I'm hurting them. I wish they could know how sorry I am. I've made up my mind though, I'm leaving I can't risk hurting another friend like that again."_

So it was because of the fight with Sakura, Hinata was angry at her. If Sakura hadn't started that fight then Naruto might not have left. Hinata got up off her bed she hid the rest of the books in her closet out of sight behind her clothing. She was on a mission of her own now as she put the most recent of the books in her backpack, she was going to have a talk with Sakura, she doubted this would be pretty, Hinata wasn't a very angry person but right now she felt like she was going to explode, she honestly believed Naruto was right when he had told her that she always tried to kill his confidence and that inside she needed to cause him pain. She was about to have the first angry outburst of her life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Haruno residence a few minutes later*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a loud knock at the door. Sakura asked herself who could possibly be there at this hour, the sun had gone down, most everyone had already gone home, She made her way to the door, she was reaching for the doorknob when the second set of knocking came it was loud she could heat the wood of the door creak they were threatening to break the door down, she couldn't imagine what could be so important at this hour.

She turned the knob and slowly opened the door revealing on pissed off Hyuuga, Hinata stood with a look that Sakura had never seen her wear before, rage. She wondered if Hinata blamed her for Naruto leaving even though Sakura knew deep down inside that if that was the case she might well be right.

"Hinata are you alright?"

"Oh yea I'm just great."

The anger was showing in her voice She had not spoken the last part of the thought though. "_Oh yea I'm just great, but your not gonna be."_

"I need to talk to you Sakura, alone."

Sakura's voice was timid she had never known Hinata to be angry. "We can talk in my room."

They made there way through the house to Sakura's room, when the arrived Sakura shut the door and turned to Hinata.

"What wrong Hinata?"

Hinata reached into her backpack pulling out the large book, she flipped through the entries finding several she had found to be particularly harsh, she motioned for Sakura to come over to her, When Sakura was next to her she turned the book to Sakura and pointed the the entries, she pointed out several and finally the most recent entry.

"That's what's wrong Sakura."

Sakura was shocked she didn't have any idea that her behavior had hurt Naruto so badly, and now she knew for sure that it was in fact her fault that Naruto had left.

"Hinata, I'm so sorry, if I knew that he would leave over it I would have never said anything."

"We can't change whats happened now can we, it's too late to apologize since he's not here to hear it. The only reason I haven't already attacked you is because we are friends and you are his friends, we are all on the same side at the end of the day. Otherwise I'd have attacked you as soon as you opened the door Sakura."

Sakura nodded then spoke "Have you told Tsunade?"

"No I haven't I'll let you tell her, I just hope you do it soon, this IS important."

Hinata turned and walked out of the room leaving Sakura to her own thoughts, which to be honest weren't that pleasant guilt. Fear. Her emotions were colliding and swirling together she didn't know what she really felt, she just knew she didn't like it, She was guilty over Naruto's departure, she was afraid how Tsunade would react.

Hinata walked toward her home, the anger had passed now, she was returning to her normal state of mind, though she was still upset about Naruto leaving, she made her way to the park before going home she sat on one of the benches and let her mind wander. The sound of silence was her only company. Her thoughts raced until she heard a voice, she couldn't tell where from.

"Did you mean it?"

"Huh?"

"Did you mean what you said in the vault."

Her mind reeled in shock, it was Naruto. When did he get here? Her mind screamed at her "_Of course I meant it."_ but her mouth wouldn't seem to move.

Naruto stepped out of the shadows and locked eyes with her, she paralyzed, he had come back? He did actually hear her before he had gone.

"Hinata, I know it's only been about 7 hours, but you have to realize there is a time difference between here and where I went, It's been a week where I was. I want to know, did you mean what you said?"

"y-y-yes."

"I'm going to ask you to do something crazy then if that's true, will you go back with me. You would be classified as a missing nin. You most likely would be crowned a traitor by the council."

"I don't know, I mean I can't, I mean..."

"I know it's a sudden question, but over the week I've found a way for both of us to go back to that world."

Total silence followed his statement. He waited patiently for her to answer. What seemed like and eternity passed. It had been Kyuubi's idea that brought Naruto back here, Kyuubi helped him figure out how to bring them both into that world, he had encouraged Naruto to follow his feelings, Kyuubi was in fact becoming as much a friend as any of his comrades here in Konoha. It felt strange ot think of that though, after a long silence his answer came.

"I'm coming with you."

Her voice was resolute she sounded completely sure that she wanted to go along with him, which made him happy, for the first time in a long time he felt like he was honestly wanted. He walked over to Hinata and pulled out a scroll laying it out on the ground.

"This is a new seal I created to bring you with me, Stand close and give me your hand Hinata."

She did as she was told, He bit his thumb and activated the scroll. Second later they were gone in leaving just the swirling leaves as evidence of their departure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*TO BE CONTINUED*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: So many of you had seen where this was going. Anyways, Please review, as always thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter. This story when I started was meant to be short, seems like I was wrong as I keep going more plans keep popping into my head so I think it will be while before it's done, though I'm not 100% how long it will be, anyways, tell me what you guys think, your reviews make my world go around.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I'm glad I got a lot of helpful reviews and a lot that just made me smile for the last chapter, I've stopped leaving the comments to people in the header notes to stop from giving away the story, I have taken to just responding to the reviews with the mail system built into this site I thank you all for keeping with me and those of you that appreciate my writing style, I'm glad that you like it. Oh and I'm at over 5K total views in under 2 weeks. I'm happy about that, anyways on to the chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, if I did the world would be a different place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Undisclosed location in the Demon realm*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto and Hinata stood in the middle of a large field on the outskirts of Kyuubi's home.

"Hinata, are you alright?"

"Yea I'm a little dizzy"

"Sorry I should have warned you shifting dimensions is a little disorienting."

Naruto pointed to the village.

"This is the village of Morizuki, Kyuubi's home." (A/n:I'm not fluent in Japanese but should be forest moon if I remember right)

Naruto looked up at the city, the sun was starting to come up, He must have spent more time waiting in the Human world than he had thought. Oh well, it was worth it, He had one of his friends with him here now, He felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had friends here yes, actually he had a lot of friends here, No one judged him for being the Kyuubi's container, there were a few that didn't like him because for so long Kyuubi was kept away from them because of him. Most though had actually taken a liking to the unusual Shinobi.

Today was the festival of the moon, it was a tradition here in the spring to hold this celebration. There would be food, music, Decorations, lot's of people, lots of merchants, a lot of the merchants were from other villages around the demon realm that came to sell their wares during the festival. Naruto had attended it his previous year in this world, He had enjoyed it quite a lot, and then he realized something, He had someone to share it with now. He motioned quickly for her to follow and explained once they were moving.

"Today is the start of the festival of the moon, The people of Morizuki celebrate it every year. It's a 3 day festival, during my first trip to this world Kyuubi wouldn't let me train instead he told me to enjoy the festival, it was amazing you won't believe some of the acts and displays, it's amazing."

Naruto's mouth was his huge smile, though unlike most of the times Hinata had seen it this time, it was genuine, the only other times she had seen it like this was when Iruka had treated him to ramen a couple times, or when Jiraiya was telling him about some new jutsu he was going to learn. She preferred this smile though over the fake one he usually made. It was lighter, happy.

They made their way into the village, Where it was so early, the festival was still being set up, The stage was being assembled for the musical acts, and the plays, and the other various acts they had scheduled. Naruto was actually due to perform this year if he was around, Kyuubi had asked if he would do a battle scene against 50 of his shadow clones in henge and use the body flicker to dispatch them, Naruto had made several tags for his Kunai containing the seal that was on the tri-kunais of his fathers. This way he could mix them in with dozens of other Kunai and use them to summon himself near his enemies.

They walked through the streets looking at the different vendors that were setting up their stands, some of them had already set up, They looked at all the different games that were being set up, This years celebration was going to be huge.

Naruto led Hinata back to the Hotel that he was staying in. They walked in Naruto was greeted by the man at the counter.

"Hey old man, Do we have another room available?"

"I'm afraid not Naruto, oh, is she with you?"

"She is the one I need a room for."

The old man ruffled through several sets of keys until he finally found the one that he was looking for. He looked at Naruto and back over to her.

"Naruto, I wouldn't normally do this, but there is one room, I don't usually let people use it, it used to be the one Kyuubi favored when he was younger and didn't want to go home. I still keep It reserved for him, though if it's for you I don't think he'd mind."

The man handed Hinata the key.

"It's the room directly across from Naruto's, it might be dusty I haven't unlocked that door in a couple centuries."

"CENTURIES????" Hinata stammered in disbelief.

"Oh did I forget to mention the people here are immortal, and though the time is different we age as if we were in the human world, What I'm trying to say is, if we spend a year in here, it's 3 weeks in the human world and we will age as though only 3 weeks have passed meaning that it was hundreds of years here since Kyuubi ended up in Konoha."

Hinata stood stunned, that was incredible to her. Naruto gave her a foxy smile.

"That three weeks Konoha was under the reign of Danzou I spent a year here training, Preparing for the fight to take it back, and Now I'm going to use this time to train. Also I should mention traveling from here into our world, they are parallel meaning if I was in the spot exactly opposite of my mansions vault like I was earlier I would appear in my vault or the park is opposite of that field just outside the village, I intend on traveling in this world. Where I can cover days worth of ground in only hours. I plan to use this to talk to members of Jiraiya's spy network, by the time he gets to them I'll be a world away." Naruto's grin was getting even wider.

Hinata asked herself when Naruto started paying this much attention to details, She wasn't upset about it, he was still his hyperactive determined self. He was still strong, the new development was he was cunning, and that she thought she might like to. Naruto had just became even more attractive to her, Not only was he not afraid to act on instinct he did make plans now, he used insight. He was everything she wished that she could be. That was part of why she loved him, He was the embodiment of how she wished she was herself. He believed in her when no one else had at the chunnin exams.

"Hinata let's get you to your room, you will want to rest before the festival get's going, once it starts it's 3 straight days and there will be enough noise you might not be able to sleep well."

Naruto guided her down the hall to her room, when she unlocked the door she was amazed the room was a little dusty but unlike the rest of the building it didn't seem run down, the walls were a nice rich color though it was tan it looked nice. The room was a good bit bigger than Naruto's he noticed, He noticed also that it had a personal bathroom and a huge bed fitting of king. This room was the nicest he had seen since he had been in the demon realm, aside from the one of Kyuubi's but that was at his mates place.

Naruto patted her on the shoulder as he went to leave but stopped when she spoke.

"N-N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yes Hinata?"

"Could you maybe, ummm, stay with me, I'm not comfortable staying alone here, I mean I've never been to this world let alone this village."

"You're scared?"

"A little"

"I'll stay here, I'll sleep over here on the floor."

"Naruto, You know that you don't have to do that."

Hinata's voice was almost silent her face was flushed red.

"where else could I sleep?"

Naruto's voice was questioning and curious, he honestly couldn't think of any other place to sleep.

"well, it is a really big bed, there is plenty of room for both of us."

"I can't do that I mean I'm a guy, you're a girl, I couldn't"

"Naruto, Please? I can't let you sleep on the floor, and this bed is big enough for both of us, besides it's not the first time we've slept in a confined space, remember the mission to get the bikochu."

Naruto remembered the mission well, he had botched it by giving the beetle a whiff of his own scent instead of Sasuke's. He remembered the night at the waterfall before they had arrived.

"You mean the mission where I saw that pretty girl at the waterfall and Kiba and Shino thought I was crazy?"

Hinata turned bright red, she could have made a tomato jealous of the shade she'd just turned.

"Hinata are you alright?"

Hinata's mind reeled, well she had told him she loved him already she figured she might as well tell him.

"Naruto, that was me in the waterfall, remember when Kiba explained I practiced my jutsu with water? I was practicing it that night when you found me."

Naruto was shocked, he didn't know what to say, That was Hinata? That jacket really did hide her form.

"That was you, that was amazing."

"It was nothing really."

"Now Hinata it was amazing, you should take more pride in your abilities."

"Do you really think that Naruto?"

"Yes Hinata, I really do."

Hinata crawled into the bed, she was too tired to go change, she had been up worrying about where Naruto had gone and the stress of his leaving had taken it's toll, now that she was with him she could relax.

"Naruto, come on you need sleep too and I can't let you sleep on the floor."

Naruto just nodded unsure of the situation and walked slowly to the bed climbing under the covers and turning to that he was back to Hinata. He hadn't slept in days in this world, He had been busy trying to figure out a way to bring others with him, and training of course. This was his first real rest since he had gotten there. Within minutes He was passed out and snoring lightly. Hinata moved closer unsure if she should do what she really wanted to do right now, Her inner self was arguing with her, She knew she shouldn't, but her inner self argued that she should take this opportunity to cuddle up to Naruto and wrap her arms around him. She didn't know how he would react, Her inner self chimed though that even if he reacted badly she could say she was asleep and didn't mean to.

After her lengthy mental argument she finally made up her mine, She slid herself a bit close to Naruto wrapping her arms around him, he was warm, she was surprised at how well built his body felt, She nestled her head into his back closing her eyes, a smile spread across her face, she felt content, safe, and happy all at the same time. She was with Naruto, in bed, cuddled up to him, she took a deep breath taking in his scent. She let the breath out slowly, as soon as she finished the exhale she was asleep as well.

Naruto awoke sometime around mid day, He felt warm for a second he couldn't figure out why, then he noticed the small tender arms that were wrapped around him, He blushed a little, He didn't know what to think, being so inexperienced with women. Naruto had always been alone, none of the girls had given him the time of day, He carefully tried to get up as not to wake Hinata, though as soon as he tried to move away she tightened her grip pulling him back.

"Hinata?"

Naruto said gently trying to wake her up, He really needed to get up.

"Hmm?" She mumbled to him barely awake

"Hinata could you well, could you please let go of me."

her eyes shot open in fear "I-I I'm sorry I didn't ~"

Naruto cut her off "No it's not that, I really need to pee"

His voice was almost a whimper. He didn't really want to get up, he was enjoying the attention that he had missed out on his whole life, someone to be with him, though he still was unsure if him and Hinata were just friends or not. After a second she let him go, after she did, she sat up and stretches letting out a yawn as she got up.

Naruto made his way to the bathroom, to do his business, Hinata realized about this time that she had not brought any change of clothing with her, all that was in her backpack were some rations and the book she had taken to show Sakura, Fear spread through her as she remembered she had Naruto's journal with her, would he be angry that she had taken something so personal of his?

Naruto reappeared in the door a minute later.

"Hinata do you want to take your shower first or should I?"

"Well I think you should but umm, I just realized I didn't bring any clean clothes with me"

She was embarrassed, she should have thought to bring clothing along, it was only common sense to bring clothes when you were going on a long trip right?

"We will have to buy you some then, we should be able to get nearly anything you could want at this festival."

Hinata smiled, Naruto was so kind hearted, He always wanted his friends to be happy, she didn't have any of the local currency, So he offered to get her what she needed. What she didn't know was over the year he had spent here training he had also worked as a mercenary taking all kinds of jobs and had accumulated a good amount of money, He had also worked at the local ramen shop. After that contest he helped the old man from Ichiraku with making ramen was a breeze.

Naruto walked away to take his shower, Hinata meanwhile pulled out a smaller book from her bag, Her diary was a lot smaller than his Journal hers was only about 5 inches wide and 6 tall, and only an inch thick. It was black with dark purple abstract shapes on the cover, there was a small latch on it with a lock to keep it secured.

She opened the book and opened to the first blank page and started to record the events of the last day from searching Naruto's estate until now, it took her several minutes to write in all of what had happened. Her handwriting was very neat almost perfect lettering, unlike Naruto's which was barely legible to anyone. She was just putting the book back when Naruto returned from his shower, Dressed in his new outfit she had helped him pick, his hair was still wet, She admired him for a few moments before he spoke and broke the trance she was in staring at him.

"Hinata, let's get going we need to get you clothes, and I'll get you something to eat, and this time maybe we can enjoy our time instead of having nosy people throw in their opinion and assumptions"

Naruto flashed that foxy grin again. She loved when he did that, she thought it was adorable. She didn't understand how it was that the other women in Konoha hadn't found him to be adorable.

They never noticed him yet he was so strong, his determination was rivaled by none, he was dead bent on succeeding in everything he did and he didn't give up until he accomplished his goals. Even though in the academy he had done poorly and had trouble he progressed faster making leaps and bounds when it came to learning from experience. Of course he wasn't what you would call hard on the eyes in her opinion at least.

They walked out of the room taking care to make sure it was locked securely. They made their way to the streets now crowded with game booths, Food stands and other various merchants, There were people everywhere. They walked slowly, Hinata was awe struck at the grandeur of the festival. Naruto however was looking for a merchant that was selling clothing that Hinata might like, if he didn't find any, He knew of a place that he could take her later that did custom clothing of course that meant it was expensive. Money wasn't an issue to Naruto though, he was sitting on a nice bank balance here, much like in Konoha when he inherited his fathers estate he was sitting on a large amount, the difference being all his money here he had earned himself.

Setting money aside was a lot easier when Naruto didn't have to pay for Jiraiya's booze and women. The money had piled in pretty quickly and in this world the jobs were a fair amount easier, their wasn't much for attacks it was pretty peaceful, most of what he had done in reality aside from train was deliver packages, He had decided to be a mercenary hoping for jobs that would help him employ his training, he had soon realized they didn't happen often here and went where the cash was which was odd jobs.

Naruto continued to scan the merchants racks as he walked by when he saw one that he hadn't seen the year before. The clothing looked to be mostly dark colors. This might be it he thought. He pointed the place out to Hinata and they walked over so she could look through the shelves of clothing. She was looking at outfits that were very conservative. Long sleeves and baggy, things what would hide her figure. Naruto didn't know much about the ways of women but he realized she was shy and that she had always hid her body from everyone, Then he had an idea. He should help her pick an outfit that showed her off a little more, She was a pretty girl why shouldn't she be proud of it?

Naruto looked through the racks until a few things had caught his eye. He pulled out a black tank top, He continued searching and found a relatively fine fishnet shirt that he thought would look nice over the tank top and finally he picked up some light combat pants that would be loose and flow well allowing full range of motion without being too baggy so they would show her form a little. His last though was to find something to replace the jacket that she always wore. He looked through a lot of coats and finally found the perfect coat, it was a trench coat like his though without the flames, it was a very deep purple that reminded him of the midnight sky. The coat was designed the be worn with the front open, the complete opposite of the one that Shino had worn all the time.

Naruto wore a grin as he walked over to Hinata and held out the outfit. She looked it over, she turned red seeing the tank top, it wasn't that revealing but still a lot more than she was used to.

"I can't wear this, I~"

Naruto didn't let her finish

"Hinata, just try it on. You're a pretty girl you should be proud of it and stop hiding it."

She blushed a deep pink, Naruto had just called her pretty? She thought she might have well gone to heaven. She nodded taking the outfit to the fitting room to try it on.

Once she had gotten the outfit on she took a glance in the mirror, She had to admit she didn't think the outfit looked all that bad. She turned opening the door to show Naruto what the outfit he had picked actually looked like on her, She smiled and blushed when Naruto's eyes shot open when he saw her. The outfit did look amazing it showed the her curves nicely and it showed off her bust without making her look ridiculously big. The coat had to add at least 10 points to her badass factor.

"Well Hinata, do you like it?"

His tone was genuine, he honestly wanted to know what she thought. She wasn't going to tell him that even if she didn't she would get it because he seemed to like the way she looked in it. She gave a nod telling him that this was indeed what she wanted for an outfit. Naruto walked back to the shelves where he had found the outfit and grabbed several more of each item and then back to the coat racks to grab several more identical to the one that she was now wearing. They paid for the outfits, Hinata kept on the one she had tried on. They continued exploring the festival for a bit, until Naruto's stomach growled anyway.

They stopped at a shop near them that was serving Dango, though it wasn't nearly as fancy or as nice of a place as their last meal together had been, Hinata was smiling the whole time, Naruto made note of how cute her smile was. They finished their meal, Naruto didn't have a plan for the rest of the day until sunset when the bands were to take stage.

They wandered with no destination down the streets, Hinata found a game that had prizes that she liked, some of which were jewelry, One of them was a silver pendant shaped like a crescent moon, it had sapphire chips in it giving it a blue sparkle when the light hit it right, The game was expensive to play and it looked really hard. The objective of the game was to throw a plastic ball against a target on the back wall making it ricochet and knocking over the prize you wanted, the necklace was hanging on a nail and she knew it would be hard to get. There was also a sign that stated You could not use chakra to help. Naruto took several tries spending a large amount of money before he finally knocked the necklace off the nail.

Hinata's smile got even bigger, she hadn't expected him to even try to get her the prize, she honestly hadn't expected him to play though she felt bad because the games were so expensive

"Naruto, you know you didn't have to, the games are so expensive"

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, It's a festival and I've got enough to cover it, I might as well enjoy this festival while I have time to. After these three days I'm going to start training and searching for information on Orochimaru.

The walked the streets watching many acts, a few of the performing artists did things like fire juggling, other put on puppet shows. They continued walking around until the sun finally started to go down. Naruto took lead of their walk and led her to the main stage, He was up first to perform then the bands were supposed to show up. He was the opening act to get peoples attention, though he was just happy that the people here had accepted him as their own enough to let him be one of the festivals main acts.

Naruto explained that he had to take the stage for the first act, though he wouldn't tell Hinata what he had planned or what the act was, He told her that he would be back shortly and made his way to the back of the stage, Once there he performed Taiju kage Bunshin and created 50 shadow clones. He explained the plan for the act to his many counterparts, a few minutes of waiting and Naruto was already getting restless checking to make sure he had all of his marked Kunai as well as a bunch of unmarked ones. He did a quick count to make sure they were all there and then he heard Kyuubi's voice from the stage.

"Welcome to the first night of the festival of the moon, I'm hoping that you all have enjoyed the festivities so far. Tonight we have a unique act that might never be displayed here again, what you are about to witness may be a once in a lifetime event. I present you with our very good friend Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto walked onto the stage and there were several cheers from the crowd, Kyuubi continued to explain what they were about to witness once they quieted.

"Tonight you will witness The body flicker technique which is unique to Naruto. His opposition will be 50 Fighters of high skill, They show is not choreographed so even I don't know how this will turn out however A protective barrier is placed in front of the stage right so that any stray weapons will not harm the crowd."

Kyuubi turned to Naruto and looked at him carefully taking in the look of anticipation and excitement on the ninjas face.

"Stage is all your kit."

Kyuubi walked off the back of the stage where he was out of sight of the crowd but could watch the act that Naruto was about to perform. Naruto focused while the 50 clones marched to the other end of the stage, Naruto's hand floated to his weapon pack, He was ready for this, Without warning he pulled several Kunai from his pouch and threw them at the clones, they easily got out of the way, He pulled out 4 more in each hand and threw them into the mass of clones, one landed cleanly dispatching one of the clones. He pulled out a scroll and started to spin while releasing the seal on the scroll. Several Kunai flew into the clones again, taking 4 more by surprise.

The stage was littered with an impossible amount of a kunai now. Naruto began to focus when he did several of the marked Kunai were within reach of a clone, He started by picking off a few that were separated from the rest first. Flashing in and out of sight an almost hypnotic display as he gracefully dispatched another 15 of the clones in what seemed like an instant on all sides of the stage.

Naruto had been keeping his mental count, he had taken down 20 of 50, Though he was starting to feel the effects between the exhaustion of the clones when they dispersed and summoning himself several times in rapid succession, He reached back into his weapon pouch throwing a few more Kunai into the swarm of Henged clones. 2 more gone, He rushed into the swarm dispatching 4 more with the kunai he had in hand. Then used the body flicker to summon himself outside of their reach throwing 3 more kunai into the crowd. Naruto took mental note 26 down. He had defeated over half. The crowd was cheering as Naruto started his sequence of blinding speed summoning himself drectly next to several clones and dispatching them.

"32" He thought to himself.

He jumped into the air doing a forward flip while he threw 6 more kunai killing 2 more clones. When he landed he shifted his weight onto his back foot and ducked into a spinning kick taking the legs out from under 2 additional clones.

"36" The mental count continued.

Once he was sure he could get at least 10 more of the clones with his body flickers he started again ripping himself through the very fabric of reality so he was only one swing away from the clones he was targeting. A quick stab or slash before the clone could even react then he would summon himself next to another sealed Kunai and dispatch another clone. He counted as he went through.

"1"

He slashed across one and ducked the fist of another bringing his foot up behind him taking out the second,

"2"

He Summoned himself into a crowd of 3 more, he counted.

"3"

As he stabbed his Kunai into the on in front of him, shifting his weight fluidly and pivoting on his right foot slashing the throat of the one that was to his left as he spun.

"4"

He jumped bringing his foot solidly into the head of the last clone in the group he had summoned himself to

"5"

Throwing a kunai with his left hand before he dissapeared again reappearing behind another clone. The thrown Kunai blindsided one of the clones.

"6"

He stabbed his kunai into the back of the clone he had appeared behind.

"7"

Naruto was feeling the exhaustion of the act more now, He was starting to feel himself slowing down but he pressed on determined to finish this. He made several hand seals.

"Wind release: Crushing storm"

Clouds came in seemingly out of nowhere, The wind picked up then crashed into the stage a couple of the clones had made their way out of the area the attack effected though he caught 4 into the storm.

"11, so that leaves 2 more."

Naruto swept out with his chakra, he found the clones were both within range of a couple of his marked Kunai. He started a sweeping kick seemingly into the air, then summoned himself behind one of the clones finishing the kick into it's side. Without hesitating he formed a swirling blue ball of chakra in his hand, He didn't need the help of his shadow clones anymore. He formed the resengan and summoned himself behind the last one

"RESENGAN"

He drove the blue sphere straight into the stomach of the unsuspecting clone dispatching it.

The effect of the show was taking it's toll, He fell to one knee and dropped the kunai in exhaustion. Though the clones had been too easy since this was to demonstrate that it was a unique jutsu the clones were forbidden to use the technique because it would make it look like more than one person could perform the attacks in the fashion Naruto had.

The crowd roared in excitement at the display of grace and aggression they had just witnessed. Naruto Pushed himself up and took a small bow before walking off the stage tired from his performance. The crowd didn't quiet down for several minutes after the show had ended. Kyuubi was on the stage collecting all of Naruto's Kunai for him so that none of the other acts would end up picking one up to try to figure out how the technique worked, though he doubted they would realize that it had anything to do with the weapons. The crowd would just think he was collecting the Kunai because they were not needed by the next act.

Once the Kunai were cleaned up Kyuubi addressed the crowd once more.

"I hope you all enjoyed that display of talent and skill, Now for the music you have been waiting for, The first performance is a group called 'Dark sentient Path' They will be performing in an uncommon style of music for this festival, usually the festival of winter is a display of heavy metal music, This group had a metal song for this festival though. The song is entitled 'For The Fire'."

The band walked on stage over to their equipment which had been previously set up on the left side of the stage earlier. They all grabbed their instruments. They weren't ready for this but they would never be completely ready ready for this.

The band started their performance. This was a nerve wracking experience for them. Naruto made his way back to where he had left Hinata, She looked at him in amazement.

"That was amazing, How did you~"

"I'll explain later, Let's enjoy the music."

Hinata didn't know if she liked this "_Heavy Metal"_ music. It was loud and sounded strange to her, it sounded chaotic but at the same time it was very structured.

Naruto stepped behind Hinata and wrapped an arm around her resting his hand on her stomach, He hoped that she wouldn't mind. This was to support himself from falling as much as it was to be close to Hinata. He watched the band, He had seen this group at the last festival, This was their second year playing, though he knew that they were nervous, they made a couple of mistakes but nothing that killed their performance.

When they finished the song, The crowd cheered, They wanted more, the band took a moment, they gathered around the drums talking amongst themselves, they looked over to Kyuubi who gave them a nod allowing them to perform an encore. The turned back to the crowed.

"we didn't plan on playing this song tonight but I guess this as good of a time as any. This song is out third version of this song, though we have not decided if it will be the final version. This song is called violent Oceans"

The drums came in fast and furious Guitar came in shortly after at amazing speed. Hinata had decided that she didn't mind this music. She didn't like it much, but she didn't hate it. The display of skill to play it was impressive though.

After their second song the crowd roared again, Kyuubi though made it clear that was to be the end of their set and they walked off the stage talking happily about the crowds reactions.

Three more bands performed that night. They were all calming instrumentals that set an almost romantic feel to the night. After the last of the music had played Kyuubi had stepped back on stage to give his closing speech.

"I hope you all have enjoyed the music, Now for our last display which will be the fireworks. We have a special guest here at the festival tonight Acompanying out first act, Her name is Hinata Hyuuga, She will be with us for a while so the I'd like to hear a cheer for her."

The crowd came to live yelling and screaming. Kyuubi loved that, When they screamed to agree with what he had anounced. He spoke again.

"Naruto you better appreciate this display you have no idea how hard it was to pull this change to the plan last minute for you."

Kyuubi walked off stage as the first flare whistled into the sky and exploded in a vibrant blue, Naruto wrapped his other arm around Hinata resting the newly placed hand on his other that had been around her since the music had started and he rested his head on her shoulder. She was turning red again, He realized just how cute he thought she was, Well he had known since she had come here. He had been noticing new things that she did that he found cute, Like that habit where she pushed her index fingers together, He had realized she did it when she was nervous though he thought it was cute none the less.

They watched the fireworks keep exploding overhead, Naruto was waiting though, He had planned something special and it took a LOT of work to get Kyuubi to pull this one for him.

"Hinata watch closely to this next part" Naruto whispered to her as he pointed to the sky.

Several purple and red fireworks went off in rapid succession they were custom packed fireworks after the 3rd one had gone off she realized they were letter. When they had all gone off She gasped at what she saw.

"Hinata, I love you too" was spelled out in the sky above them when she turned to question Naruto about it, She was met with a soft kiss under the light of the fireworks.

Hinata blushed bright enough for everyone at the festival, They had all turned toward them when the fireworks had gone off leaving those words behind, So most of the people there witnessed their First kiss under the fireworks. When he pulled away he locked eyes with her.

"Hinata, I love you. I hope that you will have, even though I've made you wait so long."

Hinata nodded she was so excited she had to bury her head in his shoulder to hide her tears, they were tears of joy. Naruto her long time crush had finally acknowledged her and he had returned her feelings, Right Now was on top of the world.

They walked back to their hotel hand in hand, This had been the first night of the new beginning of their lives. The beginning of their lives as two hearts beating as one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*TO BE CONTINUED*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Dark Sentient path is the name of an actual musical project though it is only a one man project, they can be found here .com/darksentientpath You will find electronica, and Instrumetal (instrumental metal.) The songs mentioned are on that page. They are live recordings, I have this problem where I only record something one, if it comes out too badly I scrap the song and start a new one in it's place, though there are mistakes in the songs, They aren't bad ones. You can check out the page if you like, Note that it's a musical project One person Being me. Not a band.

That being said....thank you all for your reviews, and I hope to hear what you think of this chapter, I Like how it turned out so I hope you all do as well. Thank you for keeping with this story so long, those of you that are new and those of you that have been following along since early one.

Now Please do leave reviews, They make my world go around.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I'm WAY late getting this chapter started....I'm DAYS late....work and my girlfriend leaving for a long while, I've been exhausted. So here we go I don't know how this will come out so there's no promise. I'm glad all of you that reviewed like my writing, seriously you have no idea how happy your comments and reviews make me.

So for the longest time I didn't know what I wanted to do with this chapter, until it hit me tonight. I know EXACTLY what I need to do with this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, if I did I'd be bloody rich.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Konoha the morning after Hinata left.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you mean Hinata is missing?"

This was not what Tsunade wanted to hear first thing in the morning, and it was showing.

"She never went home after the search at the Namikaze compound."

Kakashi was impassive as always, though something wasn't right, it might have been the way he was standing, His posture was slipping, it was almost as if he was going to fall over at an second, slouched forward, the way someone might be after not sleeping for days on end.

"Kakashi, Have you been sleeping alright?"

Her question was met with silence.

"I'll have to take that as a no, what's on your mind."

Kakashi stood a little straighter, noticing he had been slouching.

"It's nothing really, I'll be fine."

"You're barely able to stand I doubt that your fine, Now tell me what's bothering you."

Kakashi took a minute to think of how to say what was on his mind, after much mental deliberation he decided the simplest way might be the best way to do this.

"It's not easy seeing two of three of my students leaving Konoha without approval. Sasuke, well that was bound to happen, but Naruto leaving? There is no way he should have left. He loves this village more than he loves life itself, What reason could he possibly have to leave."

About that time a knock came at the door and Sakura in probably the quietest, smallest voice possible.

"I think I might know."

She stepped in quietly, Her face told the story for her. Her makeup wasn't done this morning, it had smeared and there were trails from her eyes, she had been crying, she didn't bother to try to hide it, her eyes were puffy and red.

"Sakura."

what seemed like minutes passed before Tsunade spoke again.

"Are you sure you want to talk about it, This is priority right now, by the looks of things though it's hitting you hard."

"I think he left because of me."

Barely a whisper, if Tsunade didn't have such good hearing even she might not have heard it.

"Care to explain?"

Tsunade's tone might have been sharper than she intended, although she was seemingly the least affected by Naruto leaving, She saw him as a little brother, at times she had been the closest thing to a mother he had ever had as well. His leaving was tearing her up as well, she was falling apart, she only kept the appearance up from years of practice gambling and perfecting her poker face.

"Well I had a fight with Naruto the day he left, I accused him of using Hinata for money, I didn't know he had inheritance. When I made those accusations he got mad. I screamed at him. A lot."

She was thinking how to word what she wanted to say next, her head was hanging down looking at the floor. She was blaming herself. It WAS her fault that he left. She knew it was her fault, She had seen the proof of it.

"Then last night Hinata came by after searching Naruto's house. She had his journal. She pointed out a lot from it, but some of the things that our argument made him say, Made him feel guilty enough to leave."

Tsunade sat stunned at her desk. Kakashi was the next to speak.

"So Hinata stopped by to show you that journal?"

"Yes."

Kakashi nodded and then faced Tsunade again.

"I don't know what happened to Hinata, but there is something I left out of the report upon her request, Even though it was important, Naruto had appeared in his vault while we were at his estate. He disappeared quickly when he realized we were there, Hinata though was the only one to witness it."

Kakashi's mind wandered

"_What if He came back for her and took her to the demon realm? No that's impossible the only two people that ever found a way to cross that barrier have been Naruto and Minato. There isn't a way to bring someone else along is there?"_

He dismissed the thought as totally insane and then addressed Tsunade.

"Lady Hokage, I'm going, I'm totally bushed."

"You may leave."

Tsunade told him dismissively. With a yawn he made the seal of the ram and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

"Sakura, you can't blame yourself entirely, you couldn't have known that your fight would cause Naruto to leave."

"I know but still, I am the one that started it, I've always been the one that started it when we fought."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Demon Realm*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hinata I've got a lead, We are going to Suna I need to talk to Gaara"

"Hai."

Hinata had been quiet company even after their time at the festival and the village of the forest moon. She still was shy, They had only spoken those words to each other that one time still. Hinata had followed Naruto, She tried to keep out of his way, He was the one making the decisions, though she didn't realize that it was making him uncomfortable. He had realized that he loved her, and that he wanted to be with her, That was why he brought her here. So why was she avoiding conversation and not mentioning if she had any ideas?

"okay from where we are, it will take us about 2 days to get to Suna, in their time about 3 hours."

"Okay Naruto-kun"

He did love hearing that thought, she always addressed him with the Honorific, it made him feel wanted, even if she didn't talk much. They set out on their way toward Suna. The trip would be a boring one, Not much had been happening lately. The best that Naruto had found was some thugs when he had met up with one of Jiraiya's spies.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Yes Hinata?"

She looked at the ground and started pushing her fingers together, that nervous habit still got the best of her, She couldn't seem to break it.

"Why did you come back for me?"

"You have always been there for me, I realized while I was here that I had fallen in love with you, I came back so that I could be with you, but I still have this that I need to do, I don't know how long I'll be away from Konoha, I just didn't want to be without you."

Hinata didn't respond she kept her eyes on the ground some where near her feet. The smile on her face though showed that she had approved of his response, They continued their walk taking in the scenery as they passed through several regions. The terrain here was about the same as the Human world but at the same time it felt so different.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Suna*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gaara was sitting at his desk. He still wasn't used to being the Kazikage. Being in charge of a village that once hated him? It was a welcome feeling but an odd one for the red haired Shinobi.

"_So Naruto's disappeared, I wonder what happened. The man that showed me that Caring was important, that taught me how to be Human again, left his home that he loved so much. I wonder what has gotten into him."_

Gaara shook the thoughts aside, Tsunade had sent the message telling them that Naruto had left, He had just gotten the message a few moments ago, it was amazing sometimes how fast the carrier birds could make it to their destination.

"_I really should go train I haven't done any good training in a long time"_

Gaara made his way to his private indoor practice arena, Their were several stone pillars around the room, that would soon be reduced to stone dust by the assault that Gaara was about to deliver them.

The sand in his gourd poured itself out onto the floor around him, once a decent amount had accumulated it lunged out at the first of the pillars, A very pretty, though very brutal display, the tendrils spiraled into the pillar taking away chunks of the stone with it, then the attack Gaara had been working on. The sand formed a ball that started spinning, the sand spun in different directions swirling, The attack wasn't completely original, it was based on the Resengan of Naruto's the only real difference was instead of being made of Chakra this attack was completely physical made with the sand. The swirling ball of sand smashed into the pillar destroying the middle of it, the top came crashing to the ground next to the base. Gaara turned toward the second pillar, before he could attack though Kankuro called to him from the door.

"You have a visitor Gaara, He is waiting in your office."

Gaara nodded as his sand starting making it's way back into the gourd that he had on his back.

"_Who could want to see me right now? Oh well I guess I have to go back to that office"_

Gaara wasn't fond of being trapped in that office of his, He found it to be about as boring as life could get. He didn't slack on his paperwork like Tsunade but he didn't do any more than he absolutely needed to.

The Kazikage's tower was massive the training chambers were underground. His office was of course near the top so he had a long walk ahead of him. His mind clicked back to his missing comrade

"I wonder what happened to him."

He spoke to himself quietly where he wasn't one to socialize much it was his way to keep his sanity. His mind was going crazy over the news that Naruto was gone. Tsunade had told him a search was not necessary because if he didn't want to be found she doubted that anyone would find him.

He reached his office. Had he really walked that far already? His mind was still racing but he pushed everything to the back of his head and let himself into the office. His face was almost pure shock when he saw Naruto and Hinata sitting in the chairs near his desk.

"Naruto? I heard you were missing?"

Naruto chuckled inwardly.

"Word travels fast I see."

"You travel fast as well."

Naruto laughed a bit before his retort

"You have no Idea, I took my time in getting here."

Gaara was Curious now. How did Naruto cover the distance from Konoha to Suna in less than 2 days? Especially since he said that they had taken there time.

"And Hinata is with you?"

"Yeah I went back to Konoha and got her, it's a long story, She is now a missing nin too. I gave her the choice and she took the option to come with me."

"How in the hells did you get here so fast though?"

"Now that is a secret my friend."

Naruto had a huge smirk on his face. He wasn't about to tell Gaara where he had been just yet, He still intended on challenging his comrade to a sparing match.

"So what brings you to Suna."

"I heard that you have had reports recently on the whereabouts of Orochimaru, I'm still looking for him. So if you have any information please tell me, I will have his head."

"Once you kill him?"

"Then I go back to Konoha, I plan to take on the Akatsuki as well, but that may be able to wait."

Gaara nodded in his all knowing fashion.

"And what if they won't take you back."

"Well I already know that we can never get back to the lives that we recognize, but if there is no for forgiveness for all that we've compromised, please, Just look at me and tell me that you'll try?"

"I'll do everything in my power to help you, I am just afraid that it might not be enough I understand that this is the only thing that you think you can do, and I know that there is no talking you out of it. So you have my support."

Gaara walked over to his desk going through files in one of the drawers, he was well organized much to many peoples surprise, he was one of the people that believed everything has it's own place. He finally found what he was looking for and rolled out a thin piece of paper across his desk motioning for Naruto to come look.

"Naruto, last I heard Orochimaru was is supposed to be at his hideout in this valley for the next 3 days, the problem is it's at least 4 days worth of travel from here."

Naruto presented his wide foxy grin.

"Not for me it's not. I can Guarantee that I can make it in time."

"After the time you made getting here I do not doubt that."

Naruto bowed a little.

"Thank you Gaara, I'd appreciate it if you don't tel anyone that we were here. I hope you understand."

"I understand Naruto, I'll keep it quiet."

"Thank you again Gaara but I must be leaving."

Naruto pulled out a scroll and rolled it out on the floor, he reached for Hinata's tender hand, Once she had taken his hand he bit his other thumb and activated the seal leaving Gaara in a stunned state as he stared at the empty space that his comrades had just occupied.

"That was....odd"

Gaara looked over to the door.

"You two can come in you know."

Temari and Kankuro walked into the room, Kankuro was muttering under his breath.

"How does he always know we are there?"

"Both of you heard Naruto, He was never here, got it?"

"Yea Gaara we got it."

Temari's trademark attitude shining through. She had always had that attitude, And honestly Gaara doubted that anything was going to change it. Though it was obvious when Shikamaru had been in town for a diplomatic meeting, the attitude was a little less for a day or so after he left then she was back to being her bitter self.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Demon Realm*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hinata was looking at a waterfall that was along the way, Naruto stopped to follow her gaze, When his eyes hit the waterfall his mind immediately went back to that night looking for the Beetle, on the way there the night at the waterfall, Knowing now that it had been Hinata in the waterfall. He was tempted to set up camp, It was getting late after all. He knew though that they should keep pushing on, He wanted to make as good of time as he possibly could.

After debating for a while staring at the waterfall, Naruto had made up his mind, He could meditate in the waterfall, and Hinata could practice her jutsu if she wanted, of course with her clothes on this time.

"Hinata, I think we should stop for the night, after we set up camp I'm going to meditate in the waterfall."

"Alright Naruto-kun, I should train too."

The two of them set up camp. The tent took forever, Naruto had decided before the trip that they could share a tent, The way he saw it they had shared rooms, They had shared a tent before, and they had shared a bed before, So this wasn't going to be too bad and it saved on the cost of supplies only having to get one tent.

Once they were all set up for the night Naruto made his way to the waterfall, Taking off his coat and his combat shirt he folded them neatly and put them on the bank of the stream near the base of the waterfall. He walked to the crashing water stepping in slowly, Then turning to face out over the water, He put his hands together in a difficult hand seal and closed his eyes to focus, Standing still like a statue in the water, unaffected by the crushing weight or the bitter cold of the falls.

Hinata walked into the middle of the stream and started with slow fluid motions slowly speeding the motions up the water danced around her, the water sprayed up when she moved it seemed to flow with her, If one didn't know better they might say it was the dance of a temptress in disguise as a pretty girl. Naruto opened one eye now and again to watch her, She never ceased to impress him.

When Naruto finally emerged from the waterfall several hours had passed, Hinata had long since retired from training and was sitting on the bank of the river watching him, She was impressed at how long he had meditated considering the conditions. The water here was bitter cold, The waterfall itself was fairly large, the water was falling about 80 feet from her best guess.

They made their way back to the tent, Naruto walked behind some trees to change into some dry pants and put his shirt back on. He walked back to the tent, He knew enough to wait until he was told it was okay by Hinata, she changed in the tent for obvious reasons it was easier for both people that way.

"Naruto, You can come in now."

He stepped into the tent, Hinata had a small light with her that was being used to illuminate the small tent, They had their own sleeping bags, They had only slept in the same bed for the three days of the festival, Naruto missed that feeling of being wanted that he got when Hinata had wrapped her arms around him.

He crawled into his sleeping back leaving his arms outside of it. After a while of considering it, he rolled over to Hinata sleeping bag and all and wrapped his arms around her, She changed the way she was laying pushing herself against him a little more, Once they had both gotten comfortable Hinata was the first to sleep, Naruto listened to the sound of her breathing, He could stay awake and listen for hours, but after a little while He followed her into the gray abyss of sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*TO BE CONTINUED*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I know it's a short chapter, as I said before it there's a lot on the brain lately, and between that and work I'm pressed for time I know this chapter wasn't very eventful but it's setting up for an EPIC win. At least in my mind it's totally epic.

Thank you to all of the followers of this story that have stuck with me this far, your comments and reviews are the life blood of this story, They help me to keep it going, I probably would have left it unfinished if I hadn't gotten the overwhelming responses that I have to it.

So leave some reviews, I'll appreciate it, I try to respond to all of the messages people send and all reviews but sometimes I get side tracked and forget which ones I've gotten to and which I haven't so if I leave you hanging without a response let me know I'll check again and get back to you,

REVIEW PLEASE...

Side note: Before I even got to post this, the breakup I was fretting over and hoping to avoid.....TOTALLY just happened. 3:21 AM, Oh well, shit happens.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Sorry for the long ass wait....I had to work the 4th and all time spent up to it. Was INSANE. Talk about working a madhouse. Anyways I figured this chapter out...say the night after I posted the last one and just haven't had time to write it, Sorry to those of you that reviewed and I didn't respond, I try my best but I've been on a very limited time scale.

Thank you to everyone that reviewed and all of you still following the story. You are the reason I continue writing this fanfic. Okay so here goes nothing.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, Nor do I make any money in writing this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Naruto's camp site.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hinata awoke during the night, she felt like she was shivering, She soon realized though that it wasn't her shivering, Naruto was shaking. She rolled over to look at him, his face looked pained, He looked, a mix between angry and scared. He was shaking she asked herself what was going on.

"Naruto-kun?"

Her voice was quiet still, she didn't want to startle him but whatever he was dreaming about seemed like it must be terrible, She had an idea what it was but she wasn't sure.

As soon as she had spoken Naruto's eyes shot wide open, He woke up nearly instantly, His breathing was erratic he still had a look of fear in his eyes. The fear faded as he saw the look of worry on Hinata's face looking over at him.

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah."

"About the fight at the valley of the end again?"

Naruto froze, He hadn't told anyone about the nightmares. He had been having them more frequently as time had gone on. At first it was every night, they had stopped for a while but now they had been coming back, the only way she could know was....Naruto's thoughts froze, A look of fear crossed his face again.

"The only way you could know that was if, if you had~"

Hinata realized her mistake and cut Naruto off.

"When we were searching your house, shortly after I saw you in the vault I found your stack of journals. I took them so that no one else would go through your personal thoughts, but when I got home, I got curious, I told myself not to....then I read them"

the last part she was looking at the ground she sounded as if she was totally defeated She pushed her index fingers together and looked terrified.

"I only did it because I wanted to know more about you. You never talked much about your life and I wanted to know a little. I'm sorry"

She let her head hang even lower if that was even possible. Naruto's expression lightened a little, he was still upset that she had read through his journals, He also understood that she only did it so she could know more about him. She loved him and worried, she wanted to know why he acted the way he did. After a long silence.

"Hinata, It's okay I'm not mad at you, I'm upset yes, However I do understand why you did what you did. I do wish I had brought my journal with me though, I've been writing in a notebooks for days, when I go back again I'll have to rewrite it all in."

Hinata looked at him nervously.

"I have it with me."

She pulled it out of her pack and handed the large book over to him, He put it in his pack before he thought to continue.

"Why did you bring it with you."

There was silence.

"I'm not going to get mad at you Hinata, please?"

"I may have showed Sakura the last few entries so she could understand how much she had hurt you, I was coming back from seeing her when you met me in the park. I'm sorry Naruto I know I shouldn't have, But I was so mad at her for the way she treated you that I couldn't help it, I acted without thinking, I'm sorry."

Since they had both sat up when she pulled out the book they were now facing each other sitting, Naruto placed his hand on top of hers.

"Hinata stop apologizing, you didn't do anything wrong, You went on your emotions and did what you felt you had to do, that's alright, I wish you had told me sooner, or asked me beforehand, I know you couldn't have known I was going to come back."

Hinata and Naruto sat together for a while before finally getting up to get moving again, they could make it to Orochimaru's hideout by afternoon if they kept a good pace, then they could head back to Suna, He figured by their time he could make it back by dinner.

They packed up camp quickly the sun was just barely rising. They started their long trek toward Orochimaru, and hopefully Naruto thought, Bringing Sasuke back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Orochimaru's hideout.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasuke was training today, which would be followed by...more training, then some more training. Orochimaru was checking all of his experiments to see how they were coming along, the most notable was a medication that could give him inhuman strength for a short period of time, though the price proved high. Almost all of the test subject had died after the medicine had worn off, Though one did live. A girl, Middle aged. She was medium height, With a thin frame. Her eyes were a bright blue, She had long red hair, and a HUGE attitude. She had been wild since he had taken her captive. She fought every chance she got trying to get free.

Kabuto was watching Sasuke train, He had been doing his routine for what seemed like hours, He was able to destroy any target that was set for him, and his ultimate attack he could wipe out the entire room with one attempt.

The damage to the training room was extensive when Sasuke finally walked away to get his dinner. He didn't really care that he was late, His training came first he had made that clear to everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Back in Suna*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do you really think Naruto can take that snake bastard down?"

"If anyone can do it it's Naruto."

Gaara responded without a second thought to his brothers question. He stood up and looked over at Kankuro.

"I'm going to go to my training room, I need to think."

Without another word he left leaving his brother to wonder what he had meant exactly when he had said that Naruto might be the only person that could beat Orochimaru.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Konoha*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tsunade was sifting through her paperwork, Naruto sightings from her and Jiraiya's spies were coming from everywhere, the boy worked fast that was for sure, She could barely get them filed as fast as they had been filed.

Shizune was helping her with the papers, While Jiraiya sat in the window.

"He is just like his father isn't he Tsunade?"

"Yea maybe a little too much so, it's frightening really."

Shizune looked at the two in confusion.

"What do you two mean?"

"Well, Minato had a habit of going to ANY lengths he needed for what he thought was right to protect his home, Naruto has been asking about Orochimaru, and Akatsuki, Both enemies of Konoha. He asked several of them if they had any kind of information that would indicate new threats to the city."

"So even though he left he is trying to protect Konoha?"

"Just like his father would have done if he was in Naruto's situation I believe. He is doing everything that is in his power to do what he sees is right. To protect his home."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Orochimaru's hideout*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Orochimaru was alone in his room. He had taken his evening medication that would help him to make it through the night without dying, only a few more days until he could take Sasuke's body. He looked up as he felt a sudden spike of Chakra, it was familiar but he couldn't seem to place it.

Naruto was standing somewhere inside Orochimaru's vast hideout, He didn't know where that snake bastard was but he would find him so that he could take Sasuke back.

"Kit remember everything that I taught you." the Kyuubi told him through his mental link.

Naruto thought his response "I think I can handle it, which way should I go though."

"I just told you remember what I taught you, feel out for his Chakra, you will find him."

Hinata was patiently waiting for him back in the demon realm. He had told her not to follow.

**Flashback**

"I don't want you to follow me there Hinata, It's too dangerous."

"But I could help you Naruto, This is too much for one person to take on alone."

Naruto's response matched the defiance of her own.

"You will not follow me, Promise you won't this is my fight, it's far too dangerous for you to follow."

"I promise"

She knew she was defeated, and that she couldn't go back on her word once she had spoken that she wouldn't follow otherwise Naruto would be mad at her, That was their way of the ninja they didn't go back on their promises.

Naruto pulled out his scroll and pushed himself into The Human world leaving Hinata at their camp, worrying that he may not return.

**end Flashback**

Naruto focused and found Orochimaru's Chakra, He ran down the halls The air smelled stale, it was heavy in his lungs, He kept running, the only sound was his own feet lightly hitting the floor as he moved, the torched flickered against the carved stone walls. He finally arrived at the door. Behind it he could feel Orochimaru's Chakra.

He took a deep breath, getting ready to fight what might prove to be the most important battle of his life, Time stood still as he let out his breath slowly, He was ready, He shifted his weight bringing his foot up He kicked the door in nearly sending it off it's hinges.

"It's so good of you to make it Naruto-kun"

Orochimaru over emphasized the suffix mocking Naruto.

"Orochimaru, You bastard, where is Sasuke."

"Why would I tell you that?"

"Okay then I'll beat it out of you."

"Do you really think you can?"

Naruto charged at Orochimaru, He formed his hand seal, 4 Shadow clones appeared running with him.

Orochimaru held out his hand and called out "Hidden snake hands"

Several snakes came out of his sleeves killing 2 of the clones The other two dodged, Naruto himself blocked the snakes killing them with his a Kunai before hurling it towards Orochimaru.

Orochimaru blocked the Kunai sending it into a nearby wall.

"Do you really think that will work?"

Naruto pulled 4 more Kunai throwing them at Orochimaru. All of them were blocked just like the first, What Orochimaru had failed to realize was that the four Kunai at his feet had seals carved into the blades.

"I think it already did."

Naruto was smirking at Orochimaru. Orochimaru Opened his mouth and a snake took off flying toward Naruto with Orochimaru's sword coming out of it's mouth.

Naruto Activated the seal on the kunai that had landed just behind Orochimaru.

"I told you it worked."

Naruto whispered in Orochimaru's ear as he pushed the resengan into the snake like mans back.

"That was easier than I thought."

Naruto said out loud just before he felt an immense amount of Killing intent from behind him.

"_Oh shit."_

He turned as the thought crossed through his mind to see A giant white snake behind him.

"You went so far as to experiment on your own body for the sake of power?"

"What Naruto, This is the price for my Immortality. I had planned on taking the Uchiha boys body, But now since that one is destroyed I'll have to take yours."

The serpent's scales looked as if they themselves were small white snakes, The snake came at him faster than he could react, then he felt Like he was being pulled, The same feeling that he got when he crossed into the demon world.

Naruto looked around he was standing in a void, the only other form was Orochimaru.

"what? where is this place?"

"This is a dimension that I myself created just for the purpose of this jutsu, This is where the soul transfer ceremony will take place. Don't bother trying to fight, This dimension is my own creation, I make the rules here."

Naruto couldn't move at all, He fought with his arms and legs, they wouldn't even react, Fear filled the pit of his stomach. He tried to scream though no words would come out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Naruto's Point of View.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I scream out for help but no one can hear me now, Why was this all happening to me, since that day nothing had seemed right, Happiness was nowhere to be found. I had to wonder to myself if any of my old friends even remembered who I am. I remember a time when we would have died to protect each other, and I wonder if they would still put their lives on the line to maybe save mine, I push aside these thoughts even if they would that doesn't matter now.

Why did Sasuke leave? Doesn't he realize that this bastard only wants him for his Sharingan? I remember when we were on the mission to the land of the waves, I hated him because he was cocky and arrogant. Over time though I accepted him as a Rival, he was determined. I was determined to be the best though, then that day came, The Chunnin exams, that day changed everything in the forest of death when this bastard gave him that curse mark. I couldn't feel happy after he left, I had lost a friend, Sakura was sad. She missed him a lot, I was sad because I couldn't make her happy, no matter how hard I tried.

Any of us would have died for each other, Our other friends would have died for us as well, I would have died for any one of them, I would still die for any of them, Actually, I think I am dying for them in this attempt to protect them I failed.

Would they still put their lives on the line for me if I went home even if I had won this battle?

I can't be thinking about this right now, it doesn't mater now if I die. I have to try to find a way to beat him, I just can't seem to think of anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Orochimaru's hideout*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The world went black, The dimension Naruto had been in seemed to vanish there was nothing but darkness, Light came back to him and he could see the ceiling, He was back in Orochimaru's room, What had just happened? He thought Orochimaru was going to take his body.

Just then he felt a strong Chakra, He recognized it almost immediately, Sasuke.

Naruto tried to move but his limbs still wouldn't budge, but why, he didn't seem to be in that dimension anymore.

"Sasuke, are you going to kill me?"

"I spent all these years Hoping I'd be shown the way to revenge for what Itachi did to my clan. I was fed up with that snake bastard, I'm done listening to him, It's my turn to speak. Now Listen to Naruto, we aren't the same, I'm not ashamed of my actions, Now come walk with me, Or get out of my way."

"I would gladly walk with you right now. But I can't move my legs...Or my arms even."

Sasuke activated his Sharingan. A few moments later he deactivated it with a smirk on his face.

"Genjutsu from Orochimaru, He must have used that paralysis technique while you were in his dimension to immobilize you so that he could take your body without a fight."

Naruto slowly got to his feet. Then he remembered when He had learned that Itachi was actually a spy for Jiraiya in the Akatsuki.

"Sasuke, I learned something over the years that I think you need to know."

"Oh and that is?"

Sasuke raised one eyebrow questioningly

"Itachi was ordered by the Council in Konoha to kill your clan, The Hokage was only informed of their decision after the orders had been carried out."

"Why is that important he still killed the clan."

"Because your father was planning a coup de tat over the village."

"My father would have done no such thing."

Naruto looked at him seriously.

"Sasuke when have I lied to you? I'm telling you the truth, I know it's hard to believe, but what Itachi did was to protect you and all of Konoha, even if that meant that you would hate him for the rest of your lives or even eventually kill him."

"If he's so innocent why did he flee the village after he massacred out clan?"

"He is a spy for Konoha inside of Akatsuki."

"I can't believe this, I want to hear it straight from the Hokage's mouth if that's true."

"Then you will go back to Konoha willingly?"

Sasuke stood for a moment.

"I have to know if it's true. I'll go back to find that out."

"you do know you will be punished for you actions with Orochimaru, you will have to face the council when you go back."

"I realize this, I have one question though."

Naruto looked at him with a confused look, Sasuke smirked and asked

"Will you walk with me or leave me to sink or swim."

Naruto hasn't planned on going back to Konoha just yet. Though He knew now He had to go back to defend his friend in the face of the council.

"I hadn't planned on going back myself yet, I have to face them myself when I go back."

Sasuke was shocked and confused, why would Naruto have to face the council?

"I left the village, I'm a missing nin right now, I stated my intent to kill Orochimaru, but they do not know that I'm here. Suna knows I'm here, but they agreed to keep it ranked as an S-class secret. They will not tell Konoha that their information pointed me here. I've only been missing a short time though. Killing Orochimaru might be your ace in returning without much punishment."

Naruto waited to continue as he thought of how to put it.

"I don't have an ace up my sleeve, I have to face them as I am, Without anything to show for my actions."

Sasuke was still shocked, Naruto was going to face the council without any good reason for leaving, and nothing to show for his actions, that was walking into the firing squad.

"Then you can't go back."

Naruto smirked.

"I have to go back, I can't leave you to face them alone."

"Then should we head back now?"

"I have a faster way. Though you will have to wait here for a moment."

"Alright?"

Sasuke was confused why he would need to wait.

Naruto focused on the marked Kunai he had left in the camp in the demon realm if he could summon himself in his own dimension he hoped he could cross dimensions with the use of the Kunai as well.

A moment later he felt something The the familiar feeling of reality pulling apart, the very continuum of time and space seemed to bend around him.

He was standing back at his camp. It had worked. Naruto was surprised, Though he had hoped it would work he had not Honestly believed that it would, He pulled his Kunai out of the ground and looked around, He didn't see Hinata.

"Hinata-chan? Are you here?"

"Naruto-kun your back."

"Yea We have to return to Konoha though, I'll explain along the way but get ready we are going to Suna first and we have to go back to the Human world before we can go to Suna, Once again I'll explain once we arrive."

Naruto focused his chakra again finding one of the Kunai that was left in Orochimaru's room in his hideout. The two quickly packed up camp and Naruto walked toward where he felt the Kunai, once he was directly next to where he felt it He knew that they were in the right place, He pulled out his scroll and bit his thumb, Activated the seal and the two of them stood back there Naruto had just been fighting. The giant corpse of the snake still lay on the ground as well as the broken body that Orochimaru had been using until the fight.

Naruto explained to Hinata that they were taking Sasuke back to Konoha and that he had made the decision to go of his own free will. Naruto Told them to wait for a moment he would be back in few minutes, but he had something he had to do. He visualized the Kunai he had left hidden in Gaara's office, Focusing hard he tried to activate it, the familiar feeling washed over him once again as he appeared standing near Gaara's desk.

He smirked at the thought he had, Naruto had been unsure if he could activate the seal from that distance, His fathers books said that it might be possible if he was able to visualize the Kunai and it's location.

The Kazikage was just opening his doors when Naruto appeared in His office, he stood surprise showed on his impassive features, He didn't expect to see Naruto so soon after his last visit.

"Orochimaru is dead"

Naruto stated before Gaara could question his visit. This only served to stun him more though. Naruto had killed Orochimaru already? It had only been a couple of hours, how could he have covered the distance, killed the rogue Sannin and made it back.

"I see, is there anything else?"

"I thought you would want to know, you will find his bodies in the facility, You might also want to see if there are prisoners, I don't have time to stick around though, you will have to send the nearest squad, I can't let the people there starve if they were innocent victims, but I don't have the resources to help them myself."

Naruto's tone was blunt, there wasn't any way around it, Gaara would need to send the change of plans to the squad nearest the hideout. Naruto vanished from the room without formally saying his goodbyes, Gaara stood smirking, Naruto was one hell of a guy alright.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Orochimaru's hideout, again*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto was again standing in the room, Sasuke was wondering what the hell he was doing, Hinata had explained that he could jump the dimensions with the scrolls, but she hadn't told him about the body flicker.

"Are you guys ready? I think I'll take the two of you the same way I came Meaning we are going through the Demon realm if there aren't any objections."

"I have something you might find interesting before we go, I remembered while you were gone doing, whatever it was you were doing, their was an experiment here, she was in a room with us and overheard your name come up, When you were mentioned she tried to escape She killed three of out Jonin and nearly killed Kabuto."

Sasuke continued to explain the woman's appearance, Naruto didn't know any middle aged redheaded women. He was a bit confused as to why she would react to his name.

"take me to her."

Naruto and Hinata followed Sasuke through a couple more halls, Then into a large room that looked like a prison, He continued to lead them through the cell block until he reached a door labeled 113.

When he opened the door they saw a woman standing chained to the wall, she looked as if she hadn't slept in a while, and was definitely in need of some food. Naruto walked into the door of the cell the woman quickly looked to him and yelled.

"What the hell do you want from me, Why are you doing this to me."

"Whoa lady you have the wrong Idea, I'm here to let you go, After you answer a few simple questions, first, Why did you try to escape when They mentioned the name Naruto."

"Why do you care."

"Please just answer the question, I don't want to hurt you, I don't know where Kabuto is, but Orochimaru is dead, So if we can make this quick we can let you go."

Sasuke spoke from behind him.

"You will find Kabuto dead in training area, I planned on killing Orochimaru, So I killed his henchman first so that he couldn't interfere."

Naruto smirked then spoke to the woman again.

"Okay so both of those sick bastards are dead, so will you tell me why you got so angry when they mentioned Naruto."

"Because he's my son you bastard, you couldn't tell me that you wouldn't have done the same."

"You have to be mistaken, they were talking about me, and My mother died at childbirth."

"Was your mothers name Kushina Uzumaki?"

Naruto was standing dumbstruck.

"Yeah but how do you know that."

"I didn't die, I was abducted, they left a false body made by Orochimaru that was actually a woman that they killed who had given birth soon before. They left the body of the dying woman, who looked just like me thanks to Orochimaru's experimenting and manipulating her body."

Naruto was in total disbelief His thoughts wouldn't clear, then the world went black.

Naruto had passed out when he learned his mother was alive, it was too much for him to handle all at once, Hinata explained to Kushina the life Naruto had lived, which Kushina wasn't too impressed with the way he had been treated. She was flat out enraged, She was going to have to have a talk with The Hokage, Well, that was her thought until they told her Saratobi had died and Tsunade was the new Hokage.

Naruto was finally starting to come to Hinata was sitting next to him, He looked around and saw his mother Sasuke was unlocking the chains for her. He realized that Naruto had woken up and spoke without turning to Naruto, so that Naruto couldn't see he was grinning.

"Looks like you find your ace Naruto, A ninja that was abducted from Konoha and was made to look as if she had died. I think the council is going to like this."

They all walked out of the cell, Naruto thought to himself.

"_Is it just me or does my team keep multiplying in size, first in was one, then after stopping in Konoha to get my things it was, 2, now after stopping here it's 4, I just hope my next stop doesn't make it 8, that would be too much to handle."_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*6 hours later in Konoha.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tsunade-sama we have just had 4 people enter the village, they have been arrested and are being escorted here."

A masked ninja was speaking. Tsunade looked bored.

"Do we know who they are?"

"we identified three of them though the last I haven't seen before, and she refuses to reveal her identity until she can speak with you first."

"Bring them in then."

A couple of minutes later the 4 were lead into her office she sat up straight.

"Sasuke? Naruto? Hinata?.....KUSHINA?"

Hinata was floored, she had delivered Naruto, She had seen Kushina die, how was she standing in front of her now.

"This can't be real I say you die Kushina."

Kushina explained to Tsunade the actual events that night, When Tsunade had left the room for a moment to get a nurse Orochimaru had abducted her, replaced her body with the dying body double and then experimented on her for years while no one came.

Tsunade was again floored by the news.

"That Bastard. He will die before I'm done even if I have to do it myself, he has done too many sick things, and made too many people suffer to let him continue his evil work."

"I think you are going to find it troublesome Tsunade, It's gonna be hard to kill someone who's already dead."

Naruto was laughing at his own statement. Tsunade looked at him Lifting an eyebrow to question the statement.

The group explained what happened, Naruto told his story, until he came to with Sasuke in the room, then Sasuke told her his story from killing Kabuto in the training grounds to killing Orochimaru. They both explained the rest from finding Kushina to their return.

"I see, I appreciate all you've done for us, I'm afraid you will still have to face the council though. I'll give you all the support I can, but this is out of my control."

"Send a message to Suna, tell them to send Gaara, I know he's a busy man, but he will come."

"He's the Kazikage, it would be pointless to trouble him with something like this."

"He will come Tsunade, I spoke with him before I went after Orochimaru. You weren't told because my visit is an S-class secret in Suna, No one was to speak of it."

"I see, I'll send him word now, The council gathers in 5 days, You 4 will be the subject matter, 3 of you as missing Nuke nin, and You Kushina as a recovered Shinobi and victim of Orochimaru."

They were escorted to separate cells in a temporary prison Several ANBU stood guard. Naruto thought to himself.

"_I hope the council will think well of us, I mean we did do them a great service, we killed one of their greatest enemies, we recovered a missing Shinobi, and we returned of our own will, I hope they will see this the same as I do."_

Naruto knew that they wouldn't see it the same, but it was worth the hope, it was all the 3 of them had. They would just have to wait to see what the council had to say 5 days from now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*TO BE CONTINUED*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I know the fight wasn't the greatest Though that is how I saw it, I'll explain the reasons the fight was so short later. So who thinks the council will let them be free? Who thinks the council will scream for blood under the charge of treason? And who thinks that I'll let any of the characters die?

Also I know Sasuke is a lot more a fucken douche bag that My version of him. I'm not a Sasuke fan, I actually hate the prick, But he plays an important role in the upcoming chapters, So I'll leave it at that.

Reviews make my world go around, so please show the love?


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I'm back on this one for a moment. I'm trying to add a little to all three of my stories right now since I've got the time, and I DO still have a plan for the next couple chapters, this is gonna be a total bitch though. Writing without cigarettes. Not my idea of fun. I had this next chapter written out. Though it got lost among several other documents when I wiped out the install of slack 12.2 on my other hard disk (yes folks...I am a believer in windows can suck it I use linux) so this chapter is going to be written again, this time a little more dedication to finishing it before I have to save and update shit. Anyways. I hope you all are still with me I know it's been eternity and a half....plus I need to get some kickass tunes playing for this council meeting. The only thing that can make me write this properly is if I'm listening to something as angry as the scene in my head is. So lets do this....OH I'll remind you all at the end of the chapter I have a poll going on my profile....which story should I finish first.

**Disclaimer**: Kishimoto would be PISSED if I said I own his work......I do not own Naruto. Never have, Never will.

**Start**

Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke all spent their last 4 days quietly in their cells, they were prohibited from having any visitors, and weren't kept close enough to speak with each other. The solitude was beyond mind breaking. Stuck in a cold room, With no comfort whatsoever, Bland gray walls on every side, The smell of mold permiating the air. This was hell. Today though they would taste their fist ounce of freedom from their personal hell. They would be going to their council meeting, they would be out of the cells for at least a few minutes.

The ANBU showed up at Naruto's cell last, The other two were already following the masked man. Naruto looked at Sasuke briefly making eye contact. Then to Hinata. She looked a bit more pale than usual He wondered if she was feeling ill or if it was simply the lack of proper diet over the last few days, He didn't want to insult their "Hospitality" but let's face it the food sucked. They didn't exchange any words but their best wishes for each other showed in their eyes.

The walk to the council chambers was drowned in Silence, None of the three spoke, the only sound that made it to their ears were the sounds of their own foot steps, the echoed in each of their minds, sitting in their cells they had all come to the same conclusion, there was little hope for salvation, the march that was assaulting their ears was their march to damnation, that thought made the journey to the council chamber seem like hours instead of minutes. They walked slowly. Their heads hung low in defeat, They knew that Gaara would be there to try to help them but even he could only do so much. Then there was Kushina, She would try to help them where she could, but what could she really pull off? She was a mising nin for over a decade and a half, what good was her word to the council?

Naruto tried to push this out of his mind and continued his march Trying to look on the bright side, They finally reached the Hokage tower, Taking a deep breath for what awaited in the council chamber Naruto started to mentally brace himself. This was it, His biggest fear on that council though he had already killed with his own hands so that wouldn't be a problem. The problem was though that he still never had become very popular among the council. He really hoped that Tsunade and Gaara could pull a miracle. The very least though he would plead for them to let his friends go and sacrifice himself if it came to that, Be it exile or execution he was ready. He took another deep breath before they entered the council chambers. Knowing that it may be the last true breath of fresh air that he would ever breath. He was ready for this, regardless what they decided, he had made up his mind.

Naruto lifted his head to watch the guards open the giant double doors to the council chamber. The room had the civilian council on one side, they weren't exactly the people that Naruto wanted to deal with. They had this strange way of hating him regardless what he did, He could take a Kunai to the back protecting them and they would use the opertunity to finish him off. Then their were the clan heads, He was worried of their opinions as well. What would Hiashi have to say? Hinata did run off after him. His heiress left the clan to follow him. Naruto was thinking that most likely put him in bad standing with the Hyuuga clan.

Then there was Shukaku, He was lazy just like his son. That wasn't the only thing Shikamaru had inherited from his father, Shukaku was a genius, and one of the most logical people on the council, though Naruto didn't know what his take on him was, He was the one that most likely take all details into account before passing judgment on him.

Shibi, Shino's father. This man he didn't know anything about. Other than he figured the dark sunglasses and trenchcoat must be a family trait. Once again not knowing the man meant that he didn't know what his opinion would be.

Chouza Akamichi, Chouji's father. The man was like his son in the aspect that he was large, from what Naruto knew he was a wise man. He was friends with Shukaku, Naruto just hoped that he was like his friend when it came to taking all the details into account before making his decisions.

Then there was one of the men that scared Naruto the most, Not that Inoichi would try to harm him, but having the power to walk through your mind is just disheartening when you might be on the receiving end of it. Though right now he realize That might be his saving grace if Inoichi did walk through his memories.

The Inuzuka clan head. Naruto had been around her more than just a moment at a time, though he knew that she could be frightening if she was angry and just hoped her temper wasn't as bad as her son's.

Tsunade sat at attention in the center of the council members. She was nervous though she wasn't about to show it. Her look showed determination She was ready to raise hell and fight for them with everything she was worth.

Naruto continued to scan the room it took a moment to find Gaara he was behind the council table standing in the shadows watching, He didn't know what Gaara had planned but the look in his eyes told Naruto that he had a plan for them. Then ANBU member pointed them to the center of the room where Kushina was already standing, She looked better than when they had found her. It was obvious to those that found her she had taken a good long shower and her tattered clothing was replaced with a long black dress that flowed from the waist down but at the same time seemed to fall gracefully and fairly straight.

Once they had taken their spots on the floor facing the council Tsunade stood to start the meeting.

"The council is gathered to address the punishments of Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke Uchiha, and Hinata Hyuuga. All of which are considered missing nins and are being charge with abandoning the village."

She scanned the room with her eyes making sure that everyone was paying attention.

"We will start by letting them make their case,"

She eyes the three Shinobi in front of her.

"Do you three have anything to say for yourselves?"

Taking a deep breath Naruto was the first to speak.

"I do not wish to discuss the reason that I initially left the village. Thought I will tell you that I only had the best interest of the village in mind when I left, I had decided that once I left I was going to track down the biggest threat to Konoha that I knew of. Orochimaru. The akatsuki wasn't a priority seeing as they were after me, since I was no longer in the village they weren't that much of a concern. They wouldn't come here looking and if they found me I'd fight them off hopefully reducing their organizations numbers."

Naruto retold his story to the council of the fight with The snake bastard....(totally meant sannin?) Sasuke filled in the parts that he could for Naruto. As they told their story there were outbursts from the civilian council deeming them traitors to the village and calling for their blood. Once they had calmed down and they had told their story Tsunade addressed Hinata.

"Is there anything you would like to tell the council?"

Before Hinata could even open her mouth Naruto spoke for her.

"She did nothing wrong, I asked her to come with me and she followed. You can't possibly think to punish her for my mistakes, as such, Any punishment that she may receive I would like to be passed on to me."

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow looking at Naruto. There was something between the two that she hadn't been completely informed of. That much she knew now.

"Now there are a few people who wish to speak on their behalf. The fist person who is Will take the floor to speak for them is Sakura Hurano."

Naruto hadn't even noticed Sakura standing behind the council table. She walked out to stand next to the three of them looking around the room carefully before she spoke, analyzing every member of the council,

"Most of you, Don't know these three personally, while some of you might. Have you been around them enough to know what they are really like? I know that a lot of you don't really like Naruto, And I ask that you don't let your personal feelings in the matter get in the way of your decision concerning him. I've been his team mate and a member of team 7 since it was formed when we first left the academy. Having been on a team with both Sasuke and Naruto I know that Naruto wouldn't even think of bringing harm to the village, He cares too much for every single member of this village, even though they have treated him poorly time and time again, he still fights to protect them that says something doesn't it? He never took any of the treatment personally He took it all and still even in leaving his concern was for the village."

She was interupted by a member of the civilian council

"That doesn't change anything He still left the village willingly. Making him a traitor to Konoha."

Their was some cheering from their portion of the council that was quickly silenced when Tsunade slammed her fist on to the table in front of her.

"you sound as if you have made your decision before everyone has had their chance to speak. Now listen to what they have to say for themselves and what the others have to say for them before you make up your minds."

She looked to Sakura.

"is there anything else you would like to say?"

Sakura thought for a moment before responding.

"I think I've said all I need to say."

They council almost flinched at the amount of venom in her words before she walked off the floor and went to stand next to Tsunade.

"The next person here to speak on their behalf~"

She was cut off as the ANBU spoke

"I'll am quiet capable of making my own entrance Hokage-sama."

One of the older council members looked up at the masked man and then spoke to Tsunade.

"We refuse to take any information from an unknown source. We can't take anything he has to say into account unless he is willing to reveal his identity to the council."

Tsunade thought for a moment before turning back to her ANBU.

"it's alright you can take off your mask."

The man reach up slowly removing his mask.

"I am Kakashi Hatake. Captain of Squad 7. Having had two of the Shinobi in question on my team and having trusted them with my life on numerous occasions I do believe I qualify to speak for them wouldn't you all agree?"

The council hadn't expected it to be Kakashi, they had thought he was retired from the ANBU devision. He had considerable respect among the other Shinobi, so if they didn't at least hear him out their Shinobi population would likely throw a fit and demand that the council be reconstructed. After thinking for a moment the elder responded to the cycloptic Jonin.

"Yes You have the Floor Kakashi. Make your case for them if you please."

Well that was easier than he expected, though he noticed that Naruto was giving him a strange look, it almost made him uncomfortable. He would have to remember to ask Naruto what that look was for when this was all over with.

"Having been their captain since they left the academy until the day that they left the village of their own accord, I have to say that I know them better than most people in this village. I have trusted both of them with my life. I believe in killing Orochimaru, and Kabuto they have done out village a great service, The fact does remain that they left the village for their own reasons. They have shown though that even while that is true. They still held loyalty to the village all this time, They have proved time and time again. That they would not let the village come to harm. Some of you may not realize if it wasn't for Naruto, You wouldn't even be sitting here right now. Danzo would still be in power. Naruto is a hero to this village. Sasuke Has Proven that he is not longer a slave to Orochimaru. His cursed seal died with that bastard. We also have to consider that he is the last living member of his clan In Konoha. This makes him a candidate for the Clan protection act. Which would let him reclaim his clan compound. Though His clan can only be re-established if he is free of imprisonment."

Kakashi thought a moment before finally speaking again.

"What matters though is even though they did leave the village I would still trust my life in their hands. They are still my comrades, and I will not turn my back on them."

With that Kakashi bowed to the council and took a step back to stand next to the 3 of them Hinata still hadn't been addressed much. Though it wasn't likely in anyones mind that she would be punished as harshly as the other 2, She was the Hyuuga heiress, She was the next in line for the most powerful clan in all of Konoha. No one wanted to be on Hiashi's shit list. They took their time defending The two that were most likely staring at a death sentence.

Tsunade nodded before calling the next in line to speak.

"Kazekage Gaara. If you would be so kind."

Gaara stepped out from the shadow he had been standing in and made his way slowly to the center of the room. The council was shocked to say the least, The Kazekage was defending them. They didn't want to be on Suna's bad side.

One of the council members spoke up quickly trying to find a way to stop him from defending the 2 Shinobi that she saw as traitors.

"And what does a Foreign leader have to say in an internal affair of Konoha's?"

Gaara smirked which caught all of the shinobi in the room that had met him off guard. Though he still spoke in his monotone voice.

"As an ally of Konoha, and personal friends of Naruto's I have a right to defend him. If I didn't know better I would think that was an attempt to convince the council to disregard my argument."

The council member stood stunned not knowing what she should say, She was caught how would she cover for it?

"I was simply stating this is an internal matter of Konoha's I don't see what a Foreign entity has for say in the matter."

Gaara Already knew exactly what she was trying to do.

"I know what you are trying to do, and like it or not I will defend my comrades. Though I must ask, if they are found guilty, How would you punish them?"

The council member knew that she was on thin ice. She didn't want to tell him what she was thinking luckily one of the less intelligent members of the council spoke.

"If they are found guilty they will be sentenced to death and executed."

Gaara kept his face expressionless and his tone even, They may not have realized it, but they just gave him exactly what he wanted. This was going exactly how he wanted it to.

"That would make this a foreign matter. If that is how you thank your Shinobi for risking their lives to protect you, So that you can live your lives in peace, Suna will not keep you as an ally."

The council was dumbstruck was that a threat aimed at Konoha?

"And if he was sentenced to death Kazekage what action would you take."

Without a pause as if on reflex Gaara shot back his response.

"that is easy. We will declare war on Konoha."

The council was once again in a state of complete shock. The Kazekage was willing to start a war over these two?

"Let me explain something. Naruto changed my life, When Suna attacked those years ago. I fought with the young Uzumaki. When we finished we were both too exhausted to continue the fight though he kept going trying to protect his precious people. He inspired me to change. To fight to protect rather than to fight for my own blood lust. If this is how those _Precious people_ thank him for his protection, then I would see it as a fitting reason for a war."

Naruto finally spoke recovering from his own state of shock from Gaara's answer.

"Gaara, I can't let you start a war over me. What would it prove to start a war against the very people I was protecting. If they want my blood then that is that. I don't want you to hurt them. Please even if they do kill me, they are still precious to me. I ask you as a friend not to resort to that please Gaara."

Gaara nodded to Naruto them turned back to the council to make his finishing statement.

"Even facing death, He still acts to protect you, While I would not hesitate to declare war over his death, If it is against his wishes I will not, I would consider yourselves lucky to have such a selfless Shinobi. He cares more for you than his own life. Maybe you will realize now just how far he is willing to go to protect you even though you spit in his face as thanks."

Gaara glared at the council members before walking to the back of the room with his arms crossed in front of him.

Tsunade was the first to speak.

"Well that was, To say the least unexpected."

She sighed before finally addressing the council.

"Okay now it is time for your votes. How many vote guilty."

Several hands on the civilian side of the room were raised causing Tsunade to become irritated. As the vote stood every clan head there had to vote for their innocence or they would be found guilty. She looked to the side of the room that contained the clan heads. Hiashi was the first to speak.

"While I do not know The Uzumaki boy very well, I know that he would not harm this village, He saved my Nephew Neji from himself and stopped him from walking down a very dark road. He has proven to us time and time again that he puts this village before himself, even in leaving his goals were noble. While he is guilty of leaving the village he is not guilty of betraying us. So I vote innocent. I also put my trust in him in voting innocent for the Uchiha as well."

Tsunade nodded, The next to speak was Tsume.

"I would like to say I don't know much about the boy. However. Kiba can't shut the hell up and talks about him a good amount, those stories have always reflected well for him, As well as on the word of everyone else that has spoken for him I believe he has proved that His leaving was not an act of Betrayal. He had the best intentions, I Vote for his innocence. I agree with Hiashi and will also put faith in his word. And put my vote of Innocence on Sasuke."

This was going better than she had hoped, She was hoping that the others would agree with them and go alone. Inoichi was the next to speak which almost made her cringe He wasn't a bad person but he was very strict with his opinions.

"I have heard a lot of Both of these young men from my Daughter Ino. She has spoken very highly of both of them in the past. Though this isn't about if they are good people. This is about if they betrayed the village I don't Believe that they have. Though if I vote them as Innocent I do have a request Lady Hokage."

Tsunade looked at Inoichi in confusion. She analyzed his expression. He never did show what he was thinking.

"Make your request."

With a slight grin Inoichi did just that.

"I Must say while I believe they did have the best intentions, they still did leave without permission as such I propose that they are allowed to prove themselves under probationary measures, The terms of which, they prove their trustworthy, They do missions inside the village. They will be closely monitored by ANBU for suspicious activity for a short period. This also will apply to The Hyuuga Heiress. I'm sorry Naruto, but like it or not, she did leave with you of her own free will making her just as guilty as you are."

Tsunade thought for a moment. Then after a moment she addressed the entire council.

"Let's vote on it. All in favor."

The entire Shinobi portion of the council voted in favor of Inoichi's measures. The Civilian side would have to have a unanamous vote against them to win.

"Those opposed?"

She locked eyes with the civilian side of the council, Almost all of the hands went up. One young man on the end seemed to be debating with himself. He would raise his hand slightly then put it back down, then start to raise it again. After repeating this action for several moments he finally spoke.

"I abstain."

A huge smile crossed Tsunade's face. That meant that they were free. Well almost free, they did have to prove themselves during their probationary period.

"You are sentenced to a 3 month probationary period you will not be allowed to leave the village, you will have a close ANBU watch on you at all times. Do you agree. Or would you all prefer to be in a cell."

"We accept"

They spoke in perfect unison.

"Then you may leave the floor. Though we do have one more matter to attend to You three may make yourself comfortable. You have a right to sit in where The next matter does also have to do with you."

The three of them took a bow toward the council, once they were off the main floor near the door Naruto turned and hugged Hinata.

"Thank god, I was sure they were gonna kill me."

Hinata had been worried of the same thing, She was afraid that she was going to lose Naruto in that moment. After all she had been through to be with him. She couldn't take the thought of losing him.

"I was so scared Naruto-kun. I thought....I thought I was going to lose you"

Her voice cracked she was trying not to cry, Naruto held her tight for a moment. When he finally let go he looked her into her eyes. In that moment, his intense blue eyes were locked with those soft lavender eyes of the Hyuuga. Their worlds stopped. Naruto took her in how did she calm him down so much all she had to do was look at him. He pulled her tight one more time.

"I'm still alive though, that's what matters right. We are both alive."

She nodded and pressed her face into his shoulder, He held her for what seemed to him like eternity before she finally pulled herself away.

"Are you okay now Hinata?"

She nodded and took a step back. Naruto finally shifted his attention to Sasuke. Looking at the Uchiha right now the fact he had left didn't matter. He was back. Naruto had his brother back. He was free of the cursed seal. He had come back of his own will. Naruto looked eyes with him and held out his fist. Sasuke stared at it for a second before he lifted his own and they bumped knuckles for the first time in years.

"We made it out alive."

Sasuke for once responded in a manner that surprised Naruto.

"Yeah we made it out because of you. I'm only gonna say this once Naruto. I owe you for this one. If you need anything let me know."

Naruto nodded in respect to Sasuke before turning back to face the floor. They had missed part of the councils talking over Kushina. Currently Tsunade was speaking.

"Kushina, I know that you have been through a lot, it is your choice if you would like to be put back into the Shinobi ranks. If you decide to be put back onto the active Shinobi listings you will have to spend some time with Ibiki and Inoichi, I wish I could say that I would allow you to skip that being that you were a close friend, but I can only do so much Kushina, I can't change protocol."

Kushina nodded before giving Tsunade her answer.

"While I would like to return to being a Konoha Shinobi. I would, depending on the rank you give me. Would like to either work as a teacher in the academy, or as a Jonin instructor for a Genin squad."

The council mumbled among themselves but This was strictly Shinobi Bussiness this was one of the few things they didn't get say in.

"I will accept that. After Ibiki and Inoichi give you the all clear, I'll Schedule an assesment to see where your skills stand. You have been locked up over a decade I can't imagine that they are as sharp as they used to be."

Tsunade Locked her gaze on Kushina who once again Nodded.

"Are we done here Tsunade? I'm hungry."

as If on cue Kushina's stomach let out a loud rumble.

"It's obvious you're Naruto's mother Kushina."

Kushina smiled a truly happy smile.

"Well I'll be getting to know him after all these years. We will see how alike we are. Maybe we will be even more alike when we are together."

Tsunade was dumbstruck That was a terrifying thought. As if one Naruto wasn't enough of a terror, she had forgotten how much He reminded her of Kushina, and now she had to keep her eyes on both of them. This could prove to be troublesome.

"Kushina, I expect you to be in my office at 10 Tomorrow morning I want to discuss a few things, then you will be sent to Ibiki. For now you are free to do as you like. Naruto can show you to your home. It's been a long time since you have been there. I assume you remember how to get to the place?"

"I remember Tsunade. How could I forget."

Tsunade bit back a chuckle as she nodded.

"Until you have seen Ibiki tomorrow You will have an ANBU guard following you. You are all free to go. Dismissed."

Naruto walked to his mother.

He looked at her, He wanted to say something but the words wouldn't come. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Before she finally took him into a hug.

"I thought I'd never see you. I'm sorry that you never got to know me until now."

The tears started to fall from Naruto's eyes as he pushed himself into her shoulder.

"No, I'm happy you are here now. I always thought you were dead."

She pulled him in tighter. After a few more moments of their touching reunion Naruto's stomach Let out a loud growl. As if in response just seconds after his, Kushina's echoed the call. They both stopped to look at each other.

"I could go for a few bowls of Ramen. You know any place that's any good?"

Naruto was floored. She liked ramen? Maybe that's where he got his love for it.

"I know the perfect place."

His lips curled into one of his massive grins, his eyes sparkled in excitement. He was with his mother, He had a family, while it hadn't completely sank in until now. He realized how much that meant to him. He was going to dinner. With his actual family, Family he had though died when he was born.

Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him as he lead the way to Ichiraku's. They took their seats along the bar. Kushina looked around then it clicked

"Teuchi? You're still in bussiness?"

when he walked out his face paled. He thought he was seeing a Ghost. That couldn't be who he thought it was? He had heard she had died the night of the fox attack on the village.

He stared trying to remember anyone else that he knew that fit her description. He couldn't think of anyone.

"Come on Teuchi, I know it's been a long time, did you really forget me."

He finally decided to venture his guess, he could barely think straight he was sure that he had heard she died that night.

"K-K-Kushina?"

His voice was shaky he was still surprised to see someone that reminded him so much of her. Then adding to the surprise.

"Yeah. It's been what a decade and a half?"

"I. I thought you were..."

Kushina smiled before finishing for him.

"Dead? Yeah seems everyone else thought that to. Guess you all were wrong."

she smirked at her own statement. She had kept her tone very casual when she made the statement.

"So old man. Gonna sit here and stare or are you gonna take our orders?"

He had been so shocked seeing her alive that he had forgotten that he was at his business. He shook his head to clear his thoughts then looked at her again.

"What can I get you."

She smiled and in a soft tone.

"I think I'll have the beef ramen to start. Might want to start a Bowl of Miso though my first day being free in the village I'm gonna go for a new record."

Teuchi blinked in confusion before realizing what she meant.

"Well you're gonna have a hard time. You're blond friend over there holds the current record at 38 bowls in one sitting."

Kuhsina looked at her son in disbelief.

"Damn and I thought 24 was good when I set it."

She looked back at Tuechi.

"Well I'll just have to show my son how it's done."

"....You're son?"

She chuckled at his confused expression.

"Yes Naruto is my son. I finally get to meet him after all these years."

She turned her attention to Naruto.

"Loser pays the bill."

Naruto not intending to miss out on what he though was an easy free meal responded almost yelling

"YOU'RE ON"

Teuchi set the first round in front of him. This was going to be a good day for his business. He watched to two as they started their competition. He might be able to get used to this ghost. If she could still hold up to Naruto's eating habits.

**to be continued**

**A/N:** I know that this isn't the greatest place to stop, Find out next time who gets stuck with the HUGE Ramen bill. Well guys let me know what you think I am WAY fucken overdue posting this damn chapter. I know. It's been....months? That's never good....well I hope you enjoyed this. I had already gotten this chapter finished once but never posted it, I had done things a little differently last time I wrote the chapter but I changed it a bit.

Also Remember to vote in my poll on which story to finish first, and Please leave a review. They are the only reason I have made it this far with this story. I should also mention I have a sequel planned for this story. The end of this particular story isn't that far away. Anyways.

As I said guys REVIEWS PLEASE.

And one last time. Remember there is a Poll on the profile page.


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